Hiro, not a hero
by shibarrr
Summary: Caught up in a forgotten accident during his childhood, a kid prodigy falls into melancholy. They need him to be a hero, but he's nothing of the sort. Can a mysterious monster with demon eyes fill his gloomy, gray world with color once more, or will he fall deeper into an abyss of self loathing? With a new unique power, Hiro will try to make sense of the cursed life he was given.
1. Chapter 1

He would protect her.

Snow cascaded down around the trees, blanketing the world in a layer of uniform white.

Shouts and commands were roared at him and the quivering girl in his arms.

Branches creaked above him, struggling against the weight of the sky building upon their limbs.

Men rushed forward at him, arms outstretched and eyes blazing with fury.

He shielded her with his arms, melting the snow on her dark coat, heat erupting from his grasp.

Lasers trained on their exposed skin, red mingled with red and starkly contrasted white.

His clutch on her tightened, mustering what malnourished might he could. He held her.

Arms tried to pry him away from her. The stinging touch of metal lashed out against his back. He howled out in pain.

Again. And again. And again.

Melted snow and frightened tears blended on his cheek and looking up with the last of his energy he caught sight of two brilliant turquoise eyes, and then faded to black.

/

Birds danced in the radiant beams of the sun, darting through the halcyon sky of copper and bronze brilliance, the light bouncing off their wings. The radiance reflected on the calm lake water, rays of fire acting as a brush and painting a magnum opus of orange, the sun's masterpiece. Hiro felt the thin vapor around the lake's shore crash into his pores, his skin dampened by the perpetual fog. Fish revelled in the glory of the sun, their scales blindingly bright when they leapt from the water. The calm glade of grass did not sway as there was no wind in this place. No slight breeze rushed through Hiro's medium length black hair. The air might have been labeled fresh, but it was nothing of the sort. Synthesized tranquility was bestowed upon the sylvan scholar that Hiro had aged into. His retreat into the forest was because it was a form of escape. But to him, this setting, this nature he lived in for years, was disgusting.

His eyes lolled to the back of his head, and he rested his head upon his forearm, once more tired of his boorish surroundings and repetitive daily schedule. The rest of his dorm mates, now squadmates he supposed, were at their welcoming ceremony currently, but he opted out of going, not wishing to waste his time. He found counting fish much more amusing than entertaining his mysterious masters. Hiro had always been one to question the system, regardless of the strictness of the authority, and the masked parents of his plantation were no exception.

Refocusing on his irregular hobby, Hiro trained his eyes on the lake surface. Time passed quickly when searching for fish and probing his thoughts, pondering life. One fish, sharp silver scales gleaming in the sunlight, burst forth from the water and soared across the surface before crashing back into the rippling pool. One. Hiro put more of his weight onto his arm and let out a exasperated sigh. The water eventually returned to calmness, ceasing its rippling, and his eyes squinted in impatience at the audacity of the fish to refuse leaping anymore. They usually were much more energetic, perhaps they were mocking him, laughing at his solidity while basking in each other's presence.

Another fish finally blasted forth from the water and a small grin flashed on Hiro's face. The fish continued to rise upwards as if it was trying against all odds to fly up and away into the atmosphere. The ripple of the exit wound on the water's surface dipped back downwards but instead of continuing to decrease in height, the water suddenly exploded, a flash of pink and white racing out from the depths of the lake. The fish was snatched up in the creature's mouth and it flailed helplessly in the teeth of the animal that Hiro at this point identified as a girl, a naked girl. Recoiling and removing his head from his arm, his features were painted pink when he realized the girl was completely naked, temporarily forgetting that she for some reason was catching fish with her mouth. He covered his face with his arms, shielding his innocent eyes and trying to retain some of his dignity, not wanting to be labeled a pervert. After hearing her splash back into the water, he cracked his arms apart to see through them slightly, and saw that she was no longer in sight. His position at the water's edge left him perilously close to the short waves reverberating across the disturbed lake surface. Exhaling heavily once more, he ran his hand over his face.

Upon opening his eyes again he was met with the sight of the water once more exploding, but right in front of him this time. Pink hair sprayed outwards into the air behind her head. Her pale skin was blinding when the sun's light directly caressed it. The fish she previously caught was wriggling between two rows of perfect white teeth. And most noticeably, two brilliant pools of turquoise were staring right at him. She continued to elevate further and further and had managed to exit the water to a standing position directly in front of him, where she was now looking down at him, her hair settling in waterfalls on either side of her face and covering her forehead, framing her sharp and elegant features. Two small red horns were sprouting from the top of her head and wet hair grabbed onto them, creating partitions in her long bangs. Red eyeliner and short eyelashes circumvented her eyes, her pupils black stones floating in the cerulean oceans of her irises.

Her face was centimeters from his own, and the fish's constant flopping and her position over him was drenching him in lake water. His mind screamed to recoil and was in overdrive trying to process this event, but his body refused, remaining posted below the beautiful girl, eyes locked onto hers. It was like she was pulling his soul out of him using his eyes as a conduit for the theft, he no longer had control over his body; her wish was his command. A quick blink severed this connection and he fell backwards out of his chair and onto the now wettened grass. And all he could do after recovering, still, was stare in awe. She spat out the fish and wiped her mouth with a hand, droplets of water running smoothly across her pale skin during the motion.

"Oi" she leaned in and broke the silence, "are you alive?" Hiro's eyes widened further still, surpassing any radius they had ever achieved during his lifetime.

"Wh-, who, who are you?" he managed to get out between rapid inhales and exhales.

"Tch" she let out as she moved away from him, "boooooring." In long elegant strides she walked away towards the adjacent tree line, showing no more interest in the conversation.

"Wa-, wait!" Hiro cried out, not knowing what else to do. "What's your name?" he inquired, his earnest eyes polished by a glaze of curiosity.

"Name?" she turned to face him once more, her hair being thrown about in a whirlwind of pink and her now stern eyes meeting his. She suddenly closed the distance between them in two large steps, her feet making no sound upon their contact with the earth. Leaning far into his personal space, she ran her bare tongue across the extent of his right cheek before withdrawing mere inches and licking her lips. He was frozen in place not knowing how to react to the situation. "Not salty at all, what a disappointment" she exhaled once more extending to her full height and looking down upon him.

"Salty?" he questioned flusteredly, "why would I be salty?"

Her eyes narrowed at this dose of logic and she changed the subject again quickly, "Why were you just sitting by the water, swimming is so much more fun" she questioned playfully. Hiro's state of awe was shattered by this question and he broke eye contact intentionally, casting his gaze behind him, onto his wheelchair, now covered in mud and pieces of grass.

"I would" a flock of birds cawed somewhere above him, "but some birds aren't meant to fly" he proclaimed, dejection clouding his demeanor. The girls eyes widened upon realizing he was crippled, and the corners of her mouth rose upwards for a brief moment.

"A bird who can't fly?" her smile faded and the cloud covering Hiro spread its clutches to include her as well, her features slowly becoming downtrodden. "You're just like me then" she murmured under her breath, just loud enough for Hiro to hear. "A wingless bird, told to live in the clouds" her eyes slowly climbed up his body, grabbing onto every detail of his brittle body and consuming it ravenously. "I think I like you" she remarked, genuineness filling her tone and a pleasant grin appearing on her angelic lips.

While Hiro was being visually eaten alive, he took it upon himself to upright his wheelchair and begin the arduous task of seating himself in it once more. After slowly clambering back into his seat he turned the mechanism to face the girl who was now for the seemingly hundredth time, centimeters away from his face. In a display of agility, she swung her legs up over the arm rests of the wheelchair and positioned herself to be seated on Hiro's lap. She nestled his head into the crook of her neck and he no longer dared to breathe. The proximity of the exotic beauty and his innocence acted as a noose that was now suffocating him, preventing him from formulating any rational thought or resistance. She ran a hand of long, dainty fingers through his black hair, her still wet fingers frigid against his scalp. She leaned impossibly closer still, and sniffed him powerfully, breathing in his scent. Sliding her head down to be level with his, she placed her forehead against his, her eyes so close to his own that he was drowning in the tides of her irises, being suffocated further. She released a breath and the warmth of her exhalation rolled across his cheeks in gusts of fire, burning them to a raging color of red. "You smell like the ocean" she finally broke the silence, the words being released so close to his face that every letter of the sentence punched him, leaving him dazed, awestruck.

"You've been to the ocean?" he finally managed to conjure. She donned a smile at his earnest question.

"No," she quietly admitted, the heat of her words still smacking him senseless, "but I hope it smells as good as you." She agilely leaped from his lap back to her feet with a coquettish grin and Hiro felt the cool air of the lake shore crash into his face once more, attempting to cool him down. He was speechless and felt magnetically drawn to her, as if his heart was on a string being tugged towards her eyes. He had never felt such vivid emotion in his life. His grey heart was ignited and coated with a layer of pink. She averted her eyes, finally, breaking her spell, and turned to move down the bank away from Hiro. Hiro shook his head rapidly, trying to clear his mind of whatever drug had intoxicated it. He placed his hands on the push rims of his transport and began to roll after her, the sturdy wheels digging crevices into the soggy dirt below him as he went. He followed her along the river bank for what seemed like an eternity, lost in the swaying of her hair from side to side, the only sound present was the creaking of his wheelchair fighting against the terrain. She eventually arrived at a log with what appeared to be all of her clothing on it. Reaching for what seemed to be undergarments she paused and turned to face Hiro once more, this time her gaze different.

"Ah" her expression became one of humor, "so you're a pervert, that's what it is." He then realized again that she had been completely naked throughout all their interactions and continued to squeal in embarrassment and bury his face in his hands, turning away as much as he could in the restrictions of his seat. He could hear her giggle and peeked through his fingers to see what was going on, only to see her completely clothed, somehow. She removed a white headband from the front pocket of her red uniform and snapped it onto her horns causing it to light up and beep upon its placement. Though curious, again, Hiro held his tongue this time, knowing from experience what it was like to be asked about things you couldn't control. "That uniform, are you a parasite?" she asked the question she had been holding in the back of her mind.

"No" he quickly answered, frowning. "I'm not a parasite anymore, I can't pilot" he elaborated.

"Hmm. I'm sure you can, I could taste the power in you" she casually quipped, her smile growing larger. She stood in front of him for some time, hands on her sides, gauging his reaction until she seemed to be satisfied. "Want me to take you?" she asked, all humor evaporating from her tone, time freezing as she said the words, her eyes now gleaming in a predatory fashion.

"To where" Hiro managed to reply, visibly put off by her shift in attitude.

"Into the sky" she threw her hands upwards and twirled, her hair swirling around her like a noblewoman's parasol. "I can take you into the sky" she proclaimed loudly, her declaration echoing across the lake water, all inhabitants of the kingdom of nature bearing witness to their queen's decree. She stopped spinning and locked eyes with him, her arm outstretched towards him, delicate hand seeking his own, "I can be your wings." He began to raise his hand slowly from his wheelchair's armrest, enraptured by her confidence, but a twig snapped in the treeline and the girl winced slightly, "Tch. Time's up." Looking to the source of the sound, Hiro saw a single gruff looking man emerge from the the woods with an entourage of armed guards. The presence of bandages, a cast, an eyepatch, and a breathing apparatus gave him the appearance of a medically dismissed war hero.

"We've been searching everywhere for you, troublemaker" his voice matched his commanding aura, the gravelly nature of it demanding any ears present to listen. The girl turned finally, her eyes to the ground, and trudged over to him. "Why must you persist in your antics child" he questioned agitatedly.

"Shut up" she snapped back venomously, her temper flaring, "you're not in charge of me." Hiro's eyes widened at the animosity she harbored for the wounded soldier. The soldier sighed heavily, his muscles visibly shifting beneath the thick fabric of his uniform, which was an identical copy of the girl's but blue. The girl moved past him to the center of the group of guards where they approached her with a long white overcoat and matching military cap. They placed the coat over her drooping shoulders carefully and handed her the hat, which she put on by herself.

Moving into his line of sight and obstructing his view of the mysterious girl, the intimidating man spoke to him for the first time since arriving, "Are you a parasite cadet? Why aren't you at your welcoming ceremony?" Hiro shrinked at this question, being caught in the act. After a few awkward seconds the man took note of Hiro's appearance and noticeably relaxed. "No matter, that's not my concern anyways" he added, off puttingly warm. "Sorry she was bothering you, are you ok?" he asked genuinely, seemingly convinced she had definitely done him some form of harm.

"No" he leaned to his right, trying to see her behind his broad shoulders and catching a glimpse of her brilliant pink hair, "she didn't do anything bad to me." The man stepped closer, seeing Hiro's interest in the girl. Hiro blanched and straightened beneath the man, who was feet taller than his own seated form.

"Let me give you some advice kid." he honestly expressed, "Stay as far as you can from this monster." He turned to look back at her over his shoulder, "She'll eat you up and spit you out." This however, had the opposite effect on Hiro, making him have even more questions about the girl. The man turned away from him though and the group began to set off. The birds cawed in the sky and his heart, consumed by passion, cried out alongside them. The sunlight fell in shafts through the still leaves of the fake forest, its light spotlighting the girl as if she was the heroine of a Shakespearean play, standing on center stage. The sun, birds, fish, and forest all made up the audience, leaning forward in their seats, anticipating a response from the hero. He was no hero.

"Your name?", he shouted, his knuckles white from the power he was gripping his chair with. This was weird, why was he doing this? Hiro didn't see himself as the kind of guy to act like this. Where was this behavior coming from? Opening his eyes, his nails digging into the pads on the armrests, he reiterated, "What's your name?" The entire party stopped, and all turned to look back at him, all of them except the girl, who was still rigidly staring ahead.

"My name?" her voice was weaker now, "Do you name your tools?" Her answer shook Hiro to the core, the honest admission making him grimace in defeat. "Zero Two" she turned now, her eyes digging into him, making him feel as though he could jump up and run to her if he tried. "They call me Zero Two" she turned back and walked away, the viewing assembly of nature roared in delight for the departure of their queen, birds cawing, crickets chirping, and the sun bathing her in golden confetti. The guards and behemoth man followed suit, falling in line behind her. He slouched into his seat, sinking into the cushion of the chair. The overdose of emotions had left him running on empty, but he repeated her name in his mind. Zero Two. A girl he could be a hero for.

(AN- Hello, first time publishing anything I've written and it has always been a hobby of mine. More of a way for me to have fun and get some feedback on my writing while I'm at it. Gonna call it alternate universe just so whenever I break from canon I can blame it on that. The M rating is just so I don't bind my writing to parameters regarding how graphic I can get. Won't really be a release schedule cuz it's just for fun to me. Sorry if I mess some things up, ;0)

Disclaimer that all characters belong to Trigger and A-1 pictures


	2. Chapter 2

He poured his heart into this. This rigged test they had put him into.

Lights flashed around them, the sounds of alarms reverberating off the metal confines of the compact cockpit they were seated in.

He was better than this.

The lights flicker off and on as the power supply wavers, threatening to extinguish like a candle in the wind.

He didn't need to do this for himself. There wasn't even a point in him being here. Do it for her.

The electronics of the cockpit shut down one by one and all that could be heard anymore was the panting of the duo.

Sweat flowed freely across his face, dripping onto the tight material of his suit.

She was crying. Tears mingled with an abundance of sweat. Her body was heaving with each breath in an attempt to recover itself.

Why was he so pathetic? Why did they keep him around?

A voice over an intercom stated that they had both failed. No. Only he had failed her.

Hiro's hair was thrown about by powerful gusts of wind. His uniform's thin fabric did little to protect him from the chilling gale blowing about the boundless valley. Far in front of him stood his former partner, Naomi. She was upright, looking directly at him across a long steel walkway that connected the plant she was standing on to the metal catwalk Hiro was positioned on. The endless expanse of wasteland was visible in all directions. Hiro had lived his whole life feeling powerless, but seeing Naomi forced to leave due to his own inadequacy left him with a feeling of absolute ineptness. He had failed her completely.

Hiro had no idea why the mysterious overlords of the plantation allowed him to stay. Children had disappeared all the time, children far more capable than he was. Even if he had the skill to power a Franxx, his condition made it much more difficult for him to live on the plantation, the verticality of the structure seemingly made to mock him. He considered himself a literal waste of space. His comrades would be waging a war of life and death and all he could do was sit at home, wallowing in dissatisfaction. It was torture. Watching them leave every day through his window. They had allowed him to try to connect with Naomi, in a final test to see if either were adequate. He asked countless times to let Naomi take the test with another stamen, but he was denied harshly, told it was important that he was the one to undergo the exam. Scum.

"Hiro" Naomi finally broke the silence, "it was cruel of fate to make you my partner." Her words were acid, burning him to the bone. He agreed. Tears began to stream down her face, her dark brown eyes leaking rivers of anguish. Hiro gritted his teeth in anger at himself, his gums going numb from the force exhibited. "I'm done for" she removed a hand from the suitcase she was holding to try to wipe the tears from her eyes, to no success, forceful air blowing her brown hair about, causing it to undulate in the currents of wind. "You can still make it though Hiro, if anyone can make it it's you" she said confidently, her tone not matching her frail appearance. "All you need to do" her mouth curving into a pure smile, "is stop running away." Naomi believed every single word she spoke, and Hiro knew that. This only made him even more infuriated. He was the reason she couldn't stay in the "eden" they had been provided. She was more than proficient enough to stay here. Though he didn't care much for the home they had been given, he knew it meant everything to the usually jovial Naomi, who was now sobbing in front of him. "This is the last time we'll ever see each other, Hiro" she added, the tears slowing, her body no longer quaking in misery. Hiro questioned his hearing. The last time?

"Naomi?" he tried, "Naomi, what do you mean?" Hiro tried to move forwards, but the guard who was pushing his seat held him at bay, making it impossible to advance. He wanted to leap to her and embrace her, tell her lies, promises of inevitable good fortune, but his body trapped him in place. Her eyes became both warm and solemn at the same time that the alarms for undocking sounded along the metal peninsula he was on. Realization darted through Hiro's body in an instant. "No, Naomi no!" he cried out, trying with what little strength he had to roll his chair forwards, the wheels refusing to move. She heaved her heavy brown suitcase to him, it landing just in front of his chair and sliding to his feet, its inefficiently large size obstructing his path.

"I really like the name you gave me Hiro" she spoke genuinely, slowly backing into the doorway of the plant. The guard behind Hiro halfheartedly attempted to remove the large object from the catwalk in order to roll Hiro on. "But honestly, I regret ever meeting you" she admitted, her feelings stabbed into him and twisted themselves, eviscerating his heart in agony. He could no longer move even if he was capable of it, regardless of obstacles present, her venom melted him to the steel below him, rooting him. The plant squealed as it began to retract its docking platform, hydraulics releasing columns of steam that rose up around the catwalk, blanking out the surroundings in white. The doors of the plant began to close, sealing Naomi inside, her chocolate eyes still locked onto Hiro's own. The guard who was pushing Hiro pulled his chair back and caused Hiro to fall back into his seat from his position where he was leaning forwards. Naomi's suitcase slipped off the platform, the catwalk no longer underneath it, and fell to the dead earth thousands of feet beneath them.

"Naomi!" Hiro cried out one more time, all his pain infused into the single word. It was not heard however, as the doors had closed completely and the only people still present were Hiro and the guard who had pulled him back from the edge. Hiro did not cry. No tears were present in the corners of his troubled blue eyes. Hiro had lived his whole life disappointing people. He was conditioned for failure at this point. No tears would escape the corners of his eyes. He resented his inability to succeed. The plant Naomi had boarded had at this point pulled away and was moving in line with many others away from the plantation and into the unfathomably distant horizon. The sun was perched on the skyline, its golden throne sinking into the distant sands. The transport plants were the only thing present in the barren flats. Well, the plants and two giant blue spires rising from the earth rapidly.

Hiro sat up in his seat again, casting his gaze to the left, fully turning his attention to inspecting the curious looking objects surging from the earth. The blue spikes were on a direct collision course with the convoy of plants migrating away from Plantation Thirteen Hiro discerned with a start. The growths got closer and closer in proximity to the gigantic yellow transport balls, earth being tumultuously tossed aside by the sheer force of the blue spears shattering the ground. The unstoppable blades were now taller than any of the plants and were still continuing to grow. With robust power, the towers of blue collided with the plant Naomi was in, flipping it onto its side and continuing to push into its exterior, slicing into it like a warm knife to butter. The metal of the distant plant's walls audibly squealed and exploded into a ball of ungodly fire. Hiro's eyes widened in horror.

"NAOMI!" he howled one final time into the vast void beneath him, his heart threatening to burst forth from his chest and leap off the edge into the abyss. There was no way anyone could survive that he surmised coldly. The spires continued through all the plants one by one in brutal fashion and were now coming directly for Plantation Thirteen. Hiro heard movement behind him and turned to see the guard run away from him, abandoning him on the catwalk.

"Klaxosaur! Ready the cannons!" the guard's shaky voice called out to any who could hear. Hiro turned back to the destruction and realized the spears of blue were actually horns. A fearsome black creature, which resembled the pictures of whales in books Hiro had read, rose from the sands of the badlands and was proceeding towards him at an alarming rate, moving on two massive black stilts that appeared to be legs. With the sun at its back, the bipedal monster's form casted a gargantuan shadow upon the earth. Its skin was accented with a spectrum of blue elements that appeared to glimmer with unbridled energy. Bolts of azure lightning rolled across the black surface of the creature, the sapphire fissures not able to contain the power coiled inside the beast.

From behind Hiro, huge metal flaps dropped from the sides of the plantation to reveal hundreds of enormous cannons. In unison, they erupted in a deafening barrage unto the klaxosaur. The whining of the shells could be heard spiralling through the sky above. Countless explosions flared up across the klaxosaur's surface, but they seemed to all have little to no effect. The behemoth dropped its jaw low to the ground and shifted its weight to its forward foot, throwing its tail around in a high sweep, targeting the emplacements on the walls. As if wiping a windshield, the weapons were dusted off the plantation like droplets of rain. The tail continued to swing by the cannons and collide with the front of the platform Hiro was helplessly seated upon. The force immediately blew away the supports and caused the metal to flip backwards upon itself, throwing Hiro out of his chair and into the air. Discombobulated, Hiro opened his eyes only to see the ground getting closer and closer until he landed on hard metal, sliding a couple dozen feet in a crumpled heap. Cannons from elsewhere on the plantation continued to discharge in the background as Hiro struggled to regain his awareness, the cacophony of the shelling ringing in his ears. He used his arms to support his upper body as he rolled onto his side to get the klaxosaur back into his field of vision. The monstrosity was now running past him with its side to the plantation, tail swinging from side to side, casually destroying fortunes worth of structures. Hiro realized that the klaxosaur was making its way around the plantation to the area of the startup ritual. The size of the fiend was so grand, that it quickly sprinting by him caused an eruption of dust and sand to climb up the preposterously tall sides of the plantation and shower him in debris. Hiro looked about, trying to find his wheelchair, needing to get moving as quickly as he could. He briefly searched and eventually saw it behind him, folded awkwardly beneath some loose metal panels.

"Tch" he vented to himself. Having no other option and not wishing to evaluate any other possible ones, Hiro used his arms to drag himself to the handrails on the side of the walkway, grabbing onto vertical supports to pull himself along the ground. His back was covered in a thick layer of dirt and dust caked his sweaty skin, his body not used to the physical exertion the usually reclusive boy was committing. The path he forged across the precipice of the walkway left a clean stroke on the otherwise dirt covered platform. Muscle was not a factor in the slow, gruelling progression Hiro was making, only bloody determination allowed him to continue. A cut he didn't know he had leaked blood across his forehead, painting his dusty complexion with a streak of vivid red.

Panting wildly, he finally collapsed, his arms wrapped around a metal bar, halfway done pulling himself to it. He had only managed to advance ten odd meters in what seemed like an insurmountable amount of effort and time. He cried out in dissatisfaction with his own effort. He shut his eyelids harshly, an image of Naomi appearing to him. "No more running away" he cursed himself under his breath. He let out a cry of fury and pulled himself once more. His howl was drowned out when a flash of white and red metal blew by him, an orange star visible through the thick smog surrounding the plantation. Air blasted past in an explosive wave of wind, the whirlwind violently dusting his clothing clean of the excess debris covering him. Another klaxosaur? He struggled to see with his hair being whipped about in front of his eyes. The somewhat feline looking beast accelerated past him the blink of an eye, its image blinking in and out of his periphery in seconds.

Seconds later, a thunderous roar could be heard some hundred meters ahead of him, the sound easily travelling across the flat panels of his home. Metal could be heard scraping against metal and the barely distinguishable cries of humans echoed through the polluted sky. An otherworldly arc of blue lightning flashed by Hiro, just above the walkway. After a brief moment the beam dissipated and an explosion shot forth from its contact with the alloys of the plantation. Powerful gusts of wind rolled Hiro away from the edge of the walkway, throwing him back against the plantation as if he was a sheet of crumpled paper. Smacking into the firm wall, Hiro cried out in pain once again, the impact winding him. He landed in a seated position in which his back was supported by the exterior of the plant. Using his left arm, he managed to summon enough energy to wipe the coating of dirt from his eyes, coughing as he inhaled hazy air. The air cleared out quickly, oddly enough, and Hiro slowly cracked his eyelids only to see the same white and red cat-like creature being propelled towards his part of the walkway. Utterly incapacitated, Hiro covered his head with his arms, his body shrinking into the wall, trying weakly to shield himself from the impending catastrophe.

The machine-like beast collided violently with the walkway, blowing out the multiple foundations holding the platform and causing it to fold in the middle, making Hiro slide down a couple feet on the now slanted floor. Concrete blocks blew free from simple rebar constraints and rained down around Hiro's launched form. Rolling down the slope, he came to harsh stop after some unwanted barrel rolls, loose stones forcing him to abruptly stop by clubbing into his ribs. Almost blacking out from the physical trauma he'd endured, a heavy object fell onto him and its weight nearly squashed him. Not being able to see through the endless cloud of dirt in the air Hiro couldn't discern what had landed upon him.

He did however, feel cold droplets of liquid drip onto his face, the contact starkly obvious on his dry, dusty skin. The air slowly began to clear anew and Hiro twisted and turned his torso until he rolled the object off of him and to his right side. After coughing heavily from effort, Hiro was met with the scene of a dead man laying beside him. Or so he assumed at least. The heavily injured soldier he had seen at the lake was now laying in front of him, blood flowing steadily from his mouth and out of his breathing mask, dribbling into a sanguine puddle beneath his head. He was wearing a stamen piloting suit around his large frame, though it was battered and bent dramatically, being barely identifiable as battle attire.

"He's done for" a voice he could never forget called out above him. Hiro raised his head to see Zero Two in a red pistil piloting suit, blood covering the entire right side of her face. Her pink hair was wettened a darker shade of red and patted down onto her head because of the blood congealing in her once luscious locks. She stood ruggedly in the entryway of the machine that had crashed a few yards adjacent to him, leaning against the frame for support.

"Zero Two?" he called instantly, the girl's name having been on his mind all day. "Are you ok?" he worriedly demanded, the amount of blood on her panicking him. Ignoring his question Zero Two turned her vision past the guard rails of the walkway, looking past them to the mighty klaxosaur, studying it. She turned her head back to Hiro and her gaze cast its spell upon Hiro anew, regardless of the blood dripping from her sharp chin. The circumstances were now lost on him, his aberrated breathing pattern hitched and stopped, her stare winding him for the millionth time that day.

"How kind of fate" her lips turned into a grin, sharp incisors appearing for a second, "to bring you to me." A howl some ways off, distracted her and caused her smile to fade immediately, sternness reclaiming her face. "I need to go now" she started to withdraw back into the entrance of the machine that Hiro had realized was a Franxx mecha. "Try to stay alive" she added, swaying unsteadily on her feet and blowing him a kiss, "I'll need something to eat when I get back."

"Wait, you can't pilot that thing alone, look at the state you're in!" Hiro interrupted, her blood still flowing persistently across her face, dyeing one of her eyes red. When she refused to listen, still creeping back into the aperture of the mech, Hiro leaned forwards and unbuckled his left shoe, removing it from his foot. He wouldn't let another person die while he was there. Without considering what he was doing at all, he threw the shoe in Zero Two's direction. His attempt at showing his seriousness ended up bouncing off the metal beside the doorway but the act still caused Zero Two to hesitate and turn back to him, her focus broken briefly but features still remaining unimpressed. "You'll die if you try something that risky!" he shouted, authority he didn't know he had surging through his tone.

She looked at him blandly, "And?" Her answer confused Hiro. She turned away again, her long hair hiding her face from his view, "Death is one thing I'm not afraid of." Her confidence, that was quickly becoming trademark to her, shook Hiro's own, his control of the argument faltering. The white metal of the Franxx cast long shadows over Hiro's position laying on the platform, covered in blood and dirt. His mind was a tempest, decisions being thrown about like loose debris such that he wasn't able to grasp them. Though the klaxosaur in the background was roaring, the only sound he heard was the rhythmic thumping of his heart in his ears. He'd never felt so much emotion in one day, or even a month. This girl was the cause of it. And because of that. He couldn't let her die. He could try to be a hero for her.

"No more running away" he whispered, trying feebly to inspire himself, images of chocolate eyes appearing in his mind. No more farewells today he vowed.

Not hearing his self-encouragement, Zero Two began to slide back into the cockpit, "Well, goodb-"

"Let me fly with you!" Hiro declared loudly, cutting her off; his eyes flaring with fervor, the intense azure seas within them thrown into monsoons of newfound alacrity. "Take me with you into the sky!" he demanded fearlessly, echoing her own words back to her. She turned back to him, examining him in a new light. His crippled and beaten form was difficult to look at, but she could see the rampant tenacity in his face.

"Ho" she smiled again, her infectious expression grabbing his mind between its tender hands and squeezing it in interest, examining it, "Is that right?" She tilted her head, hair falling to cover the side of her face not soaked in blood, making her an image of harsh red. "If a bird leaves the nest without being able to fly, it will fall to the earth and die a pitiful death. Can you accept that?" she asked the morbid question nonchalantly, her hands gesturing to imitate a bird plummeting to its demise. She lowered her hand further and further till it collided with her other palm, "Bang!" she said flatly, her smile curving further upwards. He casted a weary glance to the dying man laying beside him, the puddle of blood almost having reached Hiro's own feet.

"Yes" he gritted his teeth, fortifying his courage, and began to drag himself towards the mech. Her presence acted as a kindling that ignited his body like a wildfire. He pulled himself inch by inch towards her. "You said it yourself that I could fly" he grunted, pushing through pain to get closer to her. "I'd rather die trying to fly than wither away in here!" he asserted loudly, more to himself than to her. Carnivorous interest lit up Zero Two's eyes as she plunged down from the doorway, pink hair streaming wildly behind her head, bands of the orange sunset flowing through the individual locks of blood coated pink. She touched down just before him and wrapped her arms around him, picking him up by his armpits in a display of inhuman strength.

"Good enough for me", she accepted, her voice saturated with endearment. She leapt backwards an impossible distance to the opened hatch of the mech. She kept her eyes trained unto his during this motion, gazing into the deep pools of his irises. "Your eyes are like the ocean too" she remarked joyfully, doing a twirl with him upon entering, a movement akin to a ballroom dancer's. Falling onto her seat, she pulled him down after her, face lit up in delight. "I might fall in love with you", she easily confessed, her devoted words sounding nothing but authentic. She nestled against his head with her own, her short red horns pressing into his forehead clumsily. "Congratulations, you're now my darling!" she declared to him, tugging him into a heavy kiss, her lips passionately meeting his. Hiro's eyes opened completely and his heart leapt ahead a dozen beats. Electricity shot through his blood like the taste of her was a defibrillator. The indescribable softness of her lips against his own was not comparable to any sensation he knew. His skin was set ablaze, their unity blanketing him in warmth. He let himself fall deeper into her embrace, his arms falling limply to his sides and body softly shutting down in euphoria. He felt higher than the clouds. All he could see behind his eyelids was an endless expanse of turquoise and pink affection. He was soaring. And then nothing.

(AN- I'm having lots of fun with this and it's crazy to see the view counter go up every hour. Shoutout to the dude who was my first comment ever, brought up a really good point that I honestly didn't put much thought into. Well I did some digging and am pretty happy with the way I'm gonna do things, so look forwards to future chapters. Or something. ty)


	3. Chapter 3

Embroidered and elegant white robes adorned the seven men positioned around the pillars of orange holograms.

"This could be the answer."

Images of Strelitzia in stampede mode, its frame completely red, flashed on the screens floating behind them.

"This might be the fruit we've been laboring for."

A profile page of Hiro is pulled up and sifted through tentatively.

"We've never seen this before. Disgusting."

A long list of those killed in action riding with Zero Two is scanned heartlessly.

"Her condition is worsening by the day, look at the numbers"

Past operation's reports blink into view one by one around the council.

"Is he the solution?"

/

Dust diffused calmly throughout the undisturbed space of the bedroom, no movement present to disrupt its physical search for balance. A beam of golden light fell out of a window sill, filtered through decrepit cloth curtains. The particles of dust frolicced across the rays of the sun in the room, oscillating as if they were surfing upon waves around the wooden expanse of the bedchamber. Beneath the window sill, an oak framed bed was located, piles of weathered books towering up in pillars beside the simple sleeping furniture. A creak from the door being cracked open snapped the thin layer of tranquility that the room possessed. A curious pair of green eyes peered through the slim opening in the doorway so as to ascertain if the owner of the room was currently awake. Gentle green orbs contrasted the room immensely. The sheets of the bed moved and a boy sat up in his bed, the drastic change in the mood of the room alerting him. Upon making eye contact with the questioning eyes present in his room's entrance the man sighed. Knowing that the brief recognition counted as permission, the door peeled away further to reveal a young girl in a standard pistil uniform. Passing through the doorway, the girl shuffled across the room, her short legs matching her strides. Mud-stained boots caused the wood to creak beneath the pressure of her weight. With a bright smile plastered onto her familiar and soft-featured face, she moved towards the light cast into the room from the window and in one fluid motion threw the shutters open. A gust of wind, previously denied, eagerly rushed into the opening, blowing the curtains back along with the girl's chin-length hair, save for the portion fastened by a white hair clip. The boy, who was asleep mere minutes ago, was now fully awake. He searched her expression, her face doused in sunlight and permeating its usual camaraderie. The girl fiddled with her hands behind her back and worked her way over to his bedside slowly, her shadow being thrown onto the faded planks of the floor.

"Feeling better?" her recognizable voice queried, "Hiro?" He turned his face away from her, looking to the window. This had likely been the twentieth visit she had paid him in his quarters since his incident.

Gazing into the clearing outside the boarding house, Hiro responded plainly, "Just as well as I was when you checked on me an hour ago, Ichigo." The girl's smile did not falter at his response, being used to his casual dismissiveness. She shifted her eyes to her feet, her emerald eyes still warm. Knowing Hiro wasn't much of a social butterfly, she decided to keep her visit short.

"I just wanted to let you know that dinner is ready, I tried to get everyone to wait for you to come but I doubt they'll sit still much longer." she notified him calmly, peeking upwards occasionally in an attempt to catch his eyes with her own.

"I'll be there soon, go ahead without me" he declined coldly, his monotone voice uninterested in the one sided conversation. His eyes were still trained beyond the window sill, the glass dome surrounding their confines visible in the distance. He could hear her step out of his room behind him, the door slowly creaking closed. Letting out a breath he wasn't aware he was holding, he buried his face into his pillow, the fabric soft against his skin. As if his mobility wasn't impaired enough already, the actions of the previous day had left his body an aching mess, pain jolting through him with every shifting of weight he underwent. Bandages were wrapped around his lower torso and forehead, binding his bruised ribs and numerous cuts. An ironic brace was securing his right leg, it apparently having been broken in the course of action yesterday. He fought an internal battle against his hunger, trying to stand his ground and remain secluded in his bedroom to avoid the inevitable barrage of questions his peers would attack him with if he went down the hall.

He had been in that Franxx, that much was obvious. However, he was told by scrawny man they called the Doctor that his ride with Zero Two was revolting, that it was an unintended and unwelcome use of his creations. He couldn't remember anything, some form amnesia blocking his ability to recall the events inside the Franxx. Only the feeling of her lips against his remained present in his mind. This paired with the rumors of those riding with her dying after three sessions, images of the wounded soldier bleeding out beside Hiro flashing into his mind, had put Hiro on an understandable edge. An endless sortie of questions was ready behind the gates of his tongue, begging to be let loose unto any who could possess answers. Stress and uncertainty was eating Hiro alive in the same way he could eat a whole horse alive if he tried, his stomach writhing in hunger.

This would be a battle he had no chance of winning, unfortunately for him, he realized as his stomach grumbled, bellowing in famine. Groaning to himself, he reached for his wheelchair where it was leaning against his bedside table. Using his arms, he unfolded his transportation beside his bed and pulled himself into the seat, an action he had performed daily for most of his life. He envied those who could run and jump as they wished. Books had failed to make him understand the vicariously unattainable sensation of sprinting and leaping, wind streaming across the face and feet striking the earth. Now as comfortably seated as he could manage to be in his circumstances, he wheeled over to his doorway and out into the hall from his first floor bedroom. The wheels gave off a continuous dreary sound as they rolled over carpet and wood. The dining hall was at the end of hall and on the left, set off in a separate room attached to the foyer of the boarding house. Purposely pushing slowly on his rims, Hiro bided his time in the hallways of his home, not in any particular rush. A sudden cry of shock from ahead, made him raise his eyes from his feet, altering his dejection to confusion. Nothing exciting ever happened here, the most dramatic thing that had happened in months was Zorome falling down the stairs once. Even after telling himself this, he slightly increased the pace at which he pushed himself along, vaguely interested in the cause of the yelp.

Wheeling into the doorway of the dining hall, Hiro scanned the room. Everyone appeared to be looking at one thing, all their faces paled in horror for some reason. Following their stares, he was met with a pair of turquoise eyes staring directly back at him from the corner of the room. Hiro's jaw dropped so far that it was a miracle the earth's core remained intact. Zero Two sat alone apart from the others, her table nearly overflowing with the amount of food placed upon it. Three empty jars of honey sat on the edge of the wooden furniture, their contents having been pourn over all the plates of food. A thick golden glaze covered all the meat, vegetables, bread, and fruit she had before her. The blue-green spectrums of her eyes flickered when meeting Hiro's and while not breaking contact she devoured a large slab of honey coated pork in a single gulp, licking her lips after and smiling at him. Whispers sounded off like suppressive machine gun fire, the hushed gossip ricocheting off the walls.

"Daaaarling!" her voice sounded above the murmurs, silencing all chatter in the room. She stood from her seat quickly, her wooden chair squeaking as it slid against the floor. Particles of honey were littered around her jaw, the light coming through the windows reflecting off the glossy texture of her lips. Hiro struggled to pull his eyes away from her mouth, the exhilaration of their touch still potent in his mind. Skipping over to Hiro's position in the doorway, Zero Two ran her fingers up his arm and across his shoulders as she stepped around him. His skin froze beneath her foreign touch, the pads of her fingers numbing his synapses. Standing directly behind him, she slid her arms down around his neck and continued to explore his chest with her curious hands, slithering across his body until her head was just beside his own. "Would you to prefer to eat me or the food first, darling" she whispered into the nape of his neck, her words like lava running down his spine and searing the valley of his back. His cheeks were coated in shade of peach and he shut his eyes, trying hard to retain his composure.

"Zero Two, I need some answers" he sternly said, his voice shattering her jolly demeanor. His peers were put off by the severity of the tone in which he addressed her, not used to him being so serious. She pouted behind him, and withdrew her arms from his midsection, instead placing them onto the handles of his seat and pushing him to sit beside her at her private table in the corner.

"And I might have them" she pulled her seat to be directly adjacent to his own and held a grape up to his mouth. Feeling resolute in his mindset, he used two fingers to take the grape from Zero Two's hand and ate it himself, persistently keeping his intent eyes on her own, his irises demanding answers.

Attempting to keep his volume hushed so no others could eavesdrop on the conversation, Hiro questioned her, "Did I pilot that Franxx?" Peering at him sideways, her eyes narrowed in admiration, her eyelashes fluttering. Drifting over to him so that her arm was brushing against his, she caressed his jaw with her fingers, softly running her digits over the plane of his cheek and up into his thick hair.

"Mm, more or less" she answered vaguely, but upon seeing his dissatisfaction with the answer, she continued to elaborate. "It was different" she admitted, her uneasy tone not typical of her. Eyes widening at the possibility of his fears becoming true, he turned to her fully in his chair, rotating so that he was facing her.

"Tell me, please" he begged of her, his voice desperate, begging for the truth. He could feel the eyes of everyone in the room trained onto his back, burning into him. Calculated footsteps coming through the doorway snapped his focus and he turned to see Nana, their caretaker, enter the room.

"Hiro and Zero Two, I need you both to come with me, now" she instructed in a friendly tone. Zero Two sighed and rose to her feet and positioned herself behind Hiro once more, grabbing hold of his wheelchair's handles and wheeling him out of the room, the ogling of the others sticking onto her as she did so. Following Nana down the hall, they eventually arrived at a small room with nothing but a desk and two chairs in it. Nana strode across the room confidently and took a seat in the chair on the other side of the desk, beckoning for them to come closer. Zero Two pushed Hiro to the desk but instead of sitting in the cushioned wooden chair next to him, she fell against his back, propping her head on top of his own with bored eyes. Nana took this as her cue to start.

"Hiro, for a temporary period, you are to partner with Zero Two and pilot the Strelitzia with her" she informed the duo calmly. Hiro couldn't see Zero Two's face above his own, but she grinned in delight.

Hiro's own reaction was more perplexed, "Am I capable of piloting Strelitzia? I still don't even know what happened the last time I was in it."

Nana's eyes softened slightly, and she slowly replied, "We're not sure." Hiro was baffled even more by this admission.

"What I did," Zero two spoke up from behind him for the first time, "wouldn't have been possible without you, darling." Hiro subconsciously leaned back into her, pressing his head into the crook of her neck, the warmth oddly comforting. Looking to Nana for confirmation, he received a blank stare, the uncertainty evident on her face as well.

"This is what Papa wants, Hiro. What happens in these coming weeks will be paramount for all of us" she emphasized honestly.

"And much more importantly, it's what I want you to do" Zero Two remarked, her hands idly playing with his hair, twirling it between her fingers. His gaze once again trained on his feet, Hiro considered his options, and per usual, realized he there weren't any but accepting the order given to him. He had to know. He would do everything in his power to find out if he was capable of piloting the mech, if Zero Two really did take him into the sky or if they flew there together.

"I'll do it" his intense eyes met Nana's with newfound confidence.

"Then you'll immediately take part in the drill with Squad 13, albeit separate from them however" Nana smiled and dismissed them from the room, satisfied with his answer.

/

One by one, the colorful mechs of Squad 13 moved out of the docking bay and into the surrounding desert, each titanic step kicking up clouds of dust into the air. The sophisticated construction of the Franxx allowed for unprecedentedly fluid movements, the machines functioning like organic creatures almost. Ichigo and Goro's white and blue Franxx, titled Delphinium, led the rest of the squad in simple drills involving movement and formations. Miles away in a field parallel to them, Strelitzia sat alone amongst a patch of rough terrain. A transport vehicle had brought the inactive mech to the center of a field in order to avoid any possible damage occurring in the docking bay, what with the effects of their pairing still being unknown. Zero Two was sitting on the edge of the platform that formed when the Franxx's face folded down to allow entry. She was rolling a lollipop around her mouth with her tongue, hair being blown about by the wind that ran freely across the fallow expanse around her. Her legs were swinging idly back and forth, hanging off the precipice of the metal. Within the cockpit behind her, Hiro was suited up in a piloting uniform for the first time in months, placed in the stamen seat.

"Strelitzia, commence startup" a assertive voice echoed through the speakers of the piloting chamber. Hiro was clawing at the tight material of his uniform, not used to the compression his body was currently experiencing from the suit. Zero Two pulled the lollipop from her mouth with a loud pop and flicked it over the edge to the earth below. Rising to her feet she walked back into Strelitzia's cockpit and settled down on her seat, facing Hiro.

"Feeling alright?" she asked genuinely, her head tilting in an effort to catch the gaze he was casting nervously towards the ground. Hiro was sitting in the same exact spot she had placed him when they entered the cockpit back in the plantation's docking bay. She had taken great pleasure in being commanded by her superiors to pick him up and place him in his seat herself.

"I'm ready" he steeled himself, "I have to be sure whether I can or can't do this. I'm counting on you, Zero Two." His words caused her signature coy smile to reappear, and turning around playfully she slid into position to commence the startup, her hips movement intentionally accentuated by her. Hiro's legs had been sheathed in the slots that would be used to establish the neural connection between him Zero Two, but he was still confused about some aspects of how they would do this. How would the mech even start? He hadn't been able to generate even a small amount of positive pulse in any of the tests he underwent with Naomi, all energy had been derived from her side of the para-capacity meter.

"Here we go then, darling. Leave it all to me" Zero Two said, the last part of her sentence fading into a whisper as she leaned forwards in her seat, the hatch sliding over her head from its storage unit on her back. Hiro inhaled deeply and shut his eyes. He saw images of chocolate eyes, blood, and explosions behind his eyelids. He rallied his mind, he would do this he commanded himself. And exhaled his breath only to see his world go black.

Zero Two's suit lit up along her spine, orange lights illuminating the otherwise dark chamber. She turned her head slightly to look over her shoulder and saw Hiro passed out behind her, not dissimilar to the first time they had flown together. She had questions of her own and would make sure to get answers during this trial run. Nothing like this had ever been seen or done before and she knew that. Her darling was special and she would find out to what extent.

/

A falcon soared high above the desolate landscape, wings undulating in the currents of strong wind that fanned the earth. It scanned the ground, searching for any morsel that could possibly be present, food being understandably scarce. The falcon's eyes were keen, likely the sharpest of all creatures on the food chain. In this hell of an earth, he was the natural apex predator. He thought at least, until a flash of red metal blinked in and out of his vision in split seconds, the only mark left on the dry dirt to signify it had ever been there was a tall column of dust rising in a line streaking behind whatever creature had sped past. Zero Two was the true apex predator, both of Hiro's heart and all other creatures that plagued the planet.

Zero Two panted quickly, her heart racing, face blushing from exhilaration. This power. This raw power she was feeling. Droplets of sweat rolled across her face and dripped from her pointed chin to the floor of the cockpit beneath her. This speed was impossible. The velocities she achieved were not meant to be reached by mankind. She let out a holler of joy, her darling was amazing. This euphoria he induced her with would make any sane woman fall head over heels. She wasn't mad with rage, she was only madly in love. Her control over the Franxx felt sharper than it had ever been.

Though, Strelitzia was in stampede mode, she thought to herself. Rarely was she able to control it so effectively and she most definitely was never able to push it to the extent that she was currently at, not to mention so easily. She knew this was unusual. But what about her wasn't. Her and her darling could climb any mountain together. They could soar into the sky higher than the birds that had once mocked their inability to join them in the clouds. She looked back once more to see Hiro still unconscious in his seat, his head leaning against the cushions behind him. If only he could share this experience with her. This happened the last time as well. Bliss was lost upon him in his current state. She would engrave every detail of it into her mind; she would not lie to him the next time he asked her what had happened.

/

"Doctor, are you seeing this?" Nana's worried voice sounded over an intercom.

"Ugh" The Doctor let out in revulsion, "What a sick way to use my creation." Before him on a screen, an image of Strelitzia was present. The mech was in stampede mode, it looked like at least, but it was different somehow. The alloys that made up the Franxx were all colored completely red, no white present on the machine, the eyes shining an intense orange. The Franxx was setting records at the moment, speeding across the desert flats and craggy terrain at incomprehensible speeds.

Turning to another nearby terminal, The Doctor analyzed the graphs of para-capacity in the mech, trying to deduce what produced this disturbing effect. The positive pulse that was normally generated by a stamen was at 0% which was typical for a Franxx in stampede mode though unsettling since the boy still seemed to be connected. The part of the screen glaringly obvious compared to other details was the negative pulse, which seemed to be actually be off the charts, the small bars not being able to correctly graph the amount of energy being generated. The Doctor's eyes widened and his jaw dropped in understanding at the flickering screen, error alerts appearing, "Impossible…"

"Doctor? What is it? How is this happening?" Nana tried again over the intercom, helplessly lost as to the cause of this anomaly. The Doctor concluded to himself that the boy was amplifying Zero Two's negative pulse somehow, and the drastic increase in negative pulse and disbalance regarding its contrast to positive pulse had created a sort of super stampede mode, that he was now currently observing. But for some reason, Zero Two still seemed to be in total control of the mech, her normally primal rampage not occuring. He created the Franxx in an attempt to bring two humans together and have their connection create a force powerful enough to combat the klaxosaur threat. Such one sided control over his brainchild was viewed as sacrilege in his eyes, his distaste for the monster girl growing ever more.

Trying to avoid letting his personal emotion cloud his work he finally responded aloud to Nana, "That boy is special. I'll notify the sages immediately." Zero Two's condition had been decreasing for years now and this discovery could be a huge step towards their goals he judged levelly. He would need more data. This was absolutely paramount, which he hated on the inside. "Continue to analyze the boy and the girl, this is now the primary focus of our organization. See to it they are maintained well" The Doctor ended the call abruptly, leaving Nana shaking her head in confusion.

/

Hours later, Hiro laid in his bed, unconscious, for the second time in days. Zero Two was laying beside him, her arms wrapped around his head and pulling him into her embrace. Her legs were entwined with his and her head snuggled against his own. The soft feather pillow they shared made her feel as if they were dozing atop clouds. Her hair was spread out over the sheets around her, the locks fanning out in a arc about her head like a crown, her horns ornate jewels atop the pink diadem. She leisurely entertained herself by coiling his hair around her long fingers, waiting for him to awake.

Hiro rustled in his sleep, and Zero Two smiled passionately, nothing in the world could shatter the ice she had erected to freeze herself in this moment forever with him. Or so she thought, as she heard a small eep from behind the slightly cracked door of the bedroom. The blue haired girl and her entourage had been trying to peep into the room for a while, and now had disturbed her peace. She groaned loudly and the glass walls she had mentally fabricated shattered into countless shards around her. Her vocalized chagrin had ended up stirring Hiro from his slumber. His femininely long eyelashes battered a few times, the intense blue behind them partially visible. His eyelids slowly began to pry themselves apart, a loud yawn escaping his open mouth. Zero Two seized this opportunity and with a giggle brought her face nose to nose with Hiro's, her eyes peering into his..

"Darling" she hummed to him, "open your eyes." Hiro didn't completely comprehend the words she said but he eventually cracked his eyes wide enough to see two ginormous turquoise orbs looking right back at him. With a start he shouted, recoiling away from Zero Two's form only to have her arms pull him back into her cuddly embrace. "Good morning, darling" her flirtatious tone flustering him in his already susceptible state. At this, the door was swung open furiously, slamming into the wall adjacent to it and coming to a stop. Eight people stood in the doorway and their short leader's green eyes were burning into her. Ichigo was a prime image of teenage fury. Hiro shook his head, the flood of countless questions returning to him once more. Zero Two's smile could only continue to grow. She could get used to this.

(AN- I've always been told that my style of writing is over the top and that it hurts me, but since this whole little project is for fun, it's really warming to see people take interest in my writing. ty guys .)


	4. Chapter 4

_None of which equals the poison_

 _Welling up in your eyes_

 _That show me my poor soul reversed_

 _My dreams throng to drink_

 _At those green, distorting pools_

I am left

 _To guess from rainclouds darkening her eyes_

 _What thunderbolts were gathered in her heart_

-from Les Fleurs du Mal by Charles Baudelaire

/

Golden monoliths expanded as far as the eye could see. An orange metropolis sprawled before his feet, the warm lights illuminating all visible in a shade of vivid apricot. Countless towers rose towards the atmosphere, the skylines of structures competing with one another in a battle of architectural dominance. A lone river snaked through the auric empire, the manufactured waves shimmering in the amber luminance that the inner dome of the plantation was overflowing with. No birds flew in the synthetic rays of gold, no fish slipped from the currents of the man placed water, and no people dallied in the concrete arteries of the glorious heart of Cerasus.

Zero Two's heels clinked against the railway lining the balcony as she worked her way across it in a death-defying balancing act. Her long hair was whipped to her side, a flock of cherry blossoms cavorting in the wind. The pale skin of her face was radiant in the orange hue cast upon it by countless honeycombs of light from the surrounding obelisks. The geometry of the buildings varied, as if a maestro of abstract art had been hired to orchestrate the layout of the city. Hiro held his tongue as he watched her step casually along the thin metal bars and death himself held his tongue as well, thousands of feet beneath her, his arms stretched wide in welcome, waiting for a slip of any sort.

He had awoken from another daze to the sight of Zero Two in his bed only hours prior to them escaping to this place, having dodged the infuriated Ichigo and the nosy noisemakers that made up his dormitory. While she had searched for a place of privacy, he realized that all that was on his mind anymore, were questions.

"Zero Two, please. Tell me what's going on" Hiro begged, his eyes seeking her own. She stopped moving across the handrail at this and placed her feet together, facing away from him towards the lifeless, fabricated void below. She switched her weight to one foot and pirouetted, her eyes catching Hiro's briefly as fearlessly twirled on the inchwide bar. After two or three spins she stopped her performance, facing Hiro, a bright smile on her face, her perfect white teeth twinkling in the fluorescence of the dome.

With her arms folded behind her back, she answered him truthfully, "We flew together, darling." His eyes widened considerably, his body relaxing visually as the tension and worry left him.

"But, how?" he questioned, albeit in a much more excited tone, his eyes gleaming with a childish thrill. "I was knocked unconscious again," he analyzed in a slightly disappointed voice, "what happened?"

"I'm not sure entirely" she said, her eyes moving away from Hiro's, the authenticity of the statement evident in her ashmed delivery. "It was, as I said earlier, different" the second half of her statement decreasing in volume to a murmur. "I've never felt anything as," she continued, Hiro leaning forwards in his seat, anticipation getting the best of him, "amazing." His mouth opened slightly in surprise, still failing to fully grasp the situation. "It was like, you made me stronger. Made me faster, just… better" her volume increased with every detail she listed. Her eyes snapped back to his and a gentle, genuine smile rose atop her features.

Hiro hesitated, reviewing her recollection of the events in his mind and proceeded to earnestly ask her a final question, the one that which with an answer provided would unshackle him, "So, I flew. Right?" At this, Zero Two stepped off the thin metal beams and tiptoed over to him, tucking her skirt behind her knees and squatting before him so that she was level with him.

"Yes, we flew darling, you and me" she broke the chain that he had tethered himself with in anguish. His face lit up, the blues of his eyes twinkling in the golden light thrown upon the veranda. He flew. Him. The waste of space. The laughingstock of the garden. The ugly duckling they let dirty their pool, had finally spread its wings. In a atypical display of behavior, Hiro pushed himself off of his chair and into Zero Two, wrapping her into a tight hug. He clinged onto her as if his life depended on it, her warmth serving to curve his smile further upwards. In the distance, skyscrapers released an aurora of steam, the particles of vapor shining like a precipitation of fire in the burning light far beyond.

The surprise was evident on Zero Two's face, but she snuggled into his caress, arching her back in an effort to be closer to him, trying instinctively to create as much contact as she could. No flirtatious thoughts possessed her mind, her heart's will was carried out faithfully by her body. The world was a hurricane and she was the eye of the storm, the winds around her howled that she was a monster, but in Hiro's arms, she was loved. There was no more questioning it. She knew she was too far gone now. She memorized the feeling of warmth that his skin thawed her with and branded it into the sides of her heart. He would become her everything.

Far in the heavens above, angels scoffed at the star-crossed lover's embrace.

/

"Strelitzia will not be taking part in this mission" Nana declared in a steady tone. Hiro, in his wheelchair, sat in the back corner of the strategy center next to Zero Two who was leaning against the red handrails that flanked the room, her red pistil piloting suit grabbing onto her curves firmly. Hiro's features flashed with shock at this order and he opened his mouth to debate, but a quick interjection from Nana cut him off, "Strelitzia will not always be here. It's important that the rest of you learn how to defend the plantation. We can't just depend on Zero Two to defend us forever." Her words were rational so Hiro decided against himself, holding his tongue.

Zero Two looked indifferent to the relayal of commands, her eyes boredly rolling to the rims of her eyes. She agreed with almost all of what Nana had said, forgoing the part about just Zero Two not defending them forever, as if she would ever ride with anyone other than Hiro again. She had felt what it was like to be atop the world and no other person could bring her to such heights, she stubbornly declared to herself. "You are to deploy immediately" Nana dismissed Squad 13 with a wave of her hand, signalling the beginning of the operation. As they exited the room, a pair of worried green eyes flicked briefly to Hiro from beneath short blue hair. She had something to prove today.

/

Ichigo was sitting in the cockpit of Delphinium, fiddling with a white hair clip in her hands. The clanking of footsteps on metal approaching caused her to instinctively fasten it back to her head and turn to the entrance. A tall boy of average build with unkempt blonde hair stepped through the aperture of the Franxx, and stopped for a second, gazing at her.

His silhouette, outlined by the white lights of the docking bay, spoke to her, "Ichigo, you're nervous. It's obvious." His worried tone embarrassed Ichigo and her cheeks were pinked for a brief moment.

"I'll be fine once we get out there" she dismissed his concerns in a forcefully confident voice, herself not even fully believing the words she uttered. A white gloved hand rustled through the spiky blonde bush atop his head as he stepped into the light of the cockpit.

"Piloting a Franxx is a two-man job Ichigo. Just let me know if we need to slow down, ok?" his usual attentive tone making Ichigo smile to herself. She had to be stronger than this she thought. If she ever wanted to-. She cut her train of thought off mentally, scolding herself for straying her focus from the mission again so soon after just reassuring Goro.

"I know" she turned her bright green eyes to meet his own golden orbs. Satisfied with that answer, Goro stepped around her and positioned himself in his seat directly behind her.

"Let's do this then" he ended the personal conversation, steeling himself for their first ever legitimate mission. The constraints locking the Franxx in place squealed as their hydraulics retracted, freeing the mech. An affirmative nod from Ichigo was all Goro needed to begin his connection with her. He almost instantly generated enough positive pulse to fill his side of the bar on the console before him, but he noted to himself that Ichigo took slightly longer than usual to complete the link. Sighing he grasped the triggers that flicked up from Ichigo's sides and moved the mech out of the docking bay with ease, the operation of the machine having been ingrained into his mind from extraneous hours of practice. The other distinctive mechs, all having started up as expected, filed out of the docking bay beside Delphinium, falling in line with Ichigo and Goro's lead.

The mission was to descend into a nearby mine and eliminate a Conrad-class klaxosaur. Only one had been detected on the scanner at the moment they had deployed, but many klaxosaurs of the same species were known to frequent the mine, the magma energy being extracted acting as a hotspot of sorts for their kind. The mission seemed simple enough, but Goro knew that his friend's lives were on the line and would thus take the mission extremely seriously. The boosters on the heels of his mech revealed themselves and ignited, speeding up the commute to the area of the operation drastically. The other members of Squad 13 followed suit, their formation paving a warpath across the wasteland. The sun was still high in the sky when they arrived at the mine and began their lengthy descent, but the darkness of the chasm immediately enveloped them. This was it.

/

Hiro and Zero Two had remained in the strategy room after the rest of Squad 13 had departed, and both of them were completely bored out of their minds. Though Hiro didn't exactly wish misfortune upon his squadmates, he also didn't exactly harbor fond thoughts for the majority of them, leaving their progress less than intriguing to him. Zero Two shared this sentiment and was busying herself by pestering Hiro, her antics ranging anywhere from pokes to sudden licks. Hiro could do little to run away from the terror of Zero Two's affectionate playfulness, and deep inside he didn't mind that. His body was less than in agreement with him regarding this however, and her continuous startles had made his heart thud against the ceiling many times, like a bouncy ball thrown too hard against the ground.

Zero Two's comfortable reverie was broken when Zorome's high pitched scream could be distinguished over the intercom. She turned with a knowing smile towards Nana, her eyes becoming tiger-like, her primal nature glossing her bluish-green spheres.

"Miku, oi, MIKU!" a panicked voice sounded through the speakers, the otherwise silent room filled with the sound of his fearful cries. Panicked and vague commands could be heard from Ichigo's communicator. Zero Two tiptoed over to the orange displays and holograms in the front of the room, her sharp incisors showing. Nana's fists clenched in anger and her eyes narrowed at the screen before her, showing a limp Argentea being carried away by Delphinium. Hiro curiously rolled up behind Zero Two, his eyes trying to get sight of the action.

"You already know you have to use us" Zero Two beckoned to herself and Hiro, her grin becoming more carnal by the second.

"Tch" Nana exhaled, knowing now was not the time to think irrationally. She couldn't afford to lose another squad and definitely not this soon again. "Very well, you have permission to deploy" she squeezed out between clutched lips, angry at her resignation to rely on Zero Two again. Zero Two let out an approving giggle and agilely moved behind Hiro, grabbing onto his handles and wheeling him away in a speedy withdrawal from the chamber. The wheels of Hiro's chair struggled to keep up with the speeds at which Zero Two propelled them through the labyrinth of hallways, the frame creaking perilously as screws were slowly loosened from their slots.

"This is the third time you know" her voice could be heard behind him, the air rushing by him muffling her words, making him struggle to hear. The third time? "You're not worried about dying?" she curved him around a corner with only one wheel, his body involuntarily jumping up from his seat. His rough landing seemed to make him realize what Zero Two was referring to, the morbid rumors he'd heard stepping forwards from the shadows of his mind. If the gossip was true, then he would die during this expedition with her. His eyes clouded with uncertainty for an instant. Zero Two pushed him over the top of a long ramp, the chair suddenly becoming airborne. She stepped up onto the mechanism, her feet placed onto the wheel's axles, and brought her head down in front of Hiro's, making upside down eye contact with him. She could see the uneasiness overcasting his typically warm features. Her trance was broken at this sight and upon meeting the ground once again she dug her heels into the hard metal floor of the corridor, bringing the wheeled transport to a jerky stop. Hiro continued to look forward, his back straight and mind working quickly.

Why was he hesitating? An image of Zero Two thrusted itself into his head and he recalled her cool demeanor while skipping above Death's fingertips. There was nothing to fear. He shook his head, dispersing the clouds of doubt that were encircling him. He had already made this decision and he had no intention of running away from its consequences.

"No" he reached over his shoulder with a searching hand, his fingers seeking her own. The single word was the only one that he needed to utter for Zero Two to entwine her fingers with his own, the return of her warm smile evident in the waves of heat crashing into his back.

"Mm" she purred affectionately, the temperature of the hall increasing notably. She charged with him through the remainder of the hallways in a exhilarated dash, her elation making her swear flowers bloomed wherever she stepped with her darling. Rainbows and sunshine arced overhead, the path she took fantastical and blessed in her eyes. Sprinting through a doorway, the space around them expanded dramatically as they entered the docking bay. Zero Two's hands left the handles of Hiro's chair as she ran to his side now. Leaning over with an unfeasible amount of strength and dexterity, she lifted him from his chair princess style and took a powerful leap forwards. Upon returning to the earth, she bent her legs only to explode off of them again like springs, careening far into the air with Hiro in her arms. Hiro clinged onto her for dear life as the ground continued to get further and further away from him, his thin frame recoiling against her own only making her happier.

The heels of her shoes clanked against the metal catwalks that allowed access to the mechs. She needed only four more strides to pass through the entry hatch of Strelitzia, not a droplet of sweat present on her ethereal features. She carefully set Hiro into his seat, running her hands along the planes of his body as she placed his legs into their appropriate slots, her tongue slipping from the corner of her catlike grin.

Zero Two began to slide into her own seat until Hiro rose his voice to her, "Zero Two." Worry once more emanated from his words. "If I pass out again" he stopped for a second to exhale a deep breath, "Please save them." "I might not like them, but still" his eyes met hers over her shoulder with perfect clarity, "they don't deserve to die like this. Not while I could've prevented it." Surprise doused her face for a few seconds before she laughed loudly, whipping her head back in amusement, her hair being thrown about in an avalanche of pink around her.

"You're actually a pretty soft guy," she wiped away a small tear that had escaped her eye in hilarity, "aren't you, darling?" Her reaction flustered him and his cheeks reddened visibly.

"Ahh!" he ran his hands across his face and through his hair, as if trying to wipe the blush from his cheeks physically, "Let's get going already!"

"Aye aye Captain!" Zero Two playfully obeyed, her hand snapping into a firm salute. She finished straddling her seat, and began to focus, bracing herself for the flash flood of strength that would soon engulf her. Her spine lit up in a row of orange lights and her helmet sheathed her head within its metal confines, the console on top of it lighting up with its usual display. As soon as the negative pulse meter had moved a fraction of an inch, Hiro was out like a light, this time falling forwards, his head thumping against the console on Zero Two's back before sliding down on top of her. Zero Two felt his arms fall limply around her in a sort of unconscious embrace, his warmth easily passing through his normal stamen uniform. She smiled within herself, it was here again, this feeling only her darling could give her. She shut her turquoise eyes and upon reopening them, two brilliant orbs of crimson had replaced them, the flame of her irises glowing in the dim cockpit. The console on her shoulders could be heard flaring up with error messages, the negative pulse meter flashing with the text 100% below it.

Her nerves were ablaze and every neuron in her brain was firing on all cylinders. The sliding door that was rising in front of her was taking too much time to open she decided. Strelitzia's humanoid form seemed to fold in on itself, as if its core was a black hole, and in a blink of a falcon's eyes, a stark red ball of metal erupted from the thin sheet of the garage. After sliding some hundred feet the mech's paws dug into the dry earth, kicking up a tidal wave of dirt into the air. Orange eyes glistened in the harsh desert sun. The tail of the feline mech was swinging side to side at a rapid pace, its magma-infused tip reflecting the uncontested rays of the sky. Digging its hind paws into the craggy rocks beneath it, the beast discharged like a steel projectile released from a gauss rifle. Accelerating to a blur, the machine flashed out of view, the ground left to explode in cracks seconds after the creature was already hundreds of meters past it. An ever growing tsunami of dust rose up above all other minute features of the barren wasteland.

"Strelitzia, the mining facility is directly north of the plantation, you'll need to descend to the eighth level once you arri-" Nana's voice hitched as she looked back to the monitor displaying the mech's current position. The Franxx had already arrived at the gaping mouth of the chasm in less than a couple minutes time from departing Cerasus. Zero Two stopped on the edge of the grand pit, the claws of Strelitzia's feet curling around the concrete, man made precipice encircling it. She didn't need a map or any kind of technology to detect the klaxosaurs. She felt them in her blood. She always did. Their eternal presence causing her veins to boil ceaselessly.

The lion-like mech leapt into the abyss with no hesitation.

/

Ichigo was panicking. She had tried for the last couple minutes to lie to herself and pretend she had the situation under control, but she knew now she didn't have the liberty to do such. The metal door she was bracing with Chlorophytum was warped and battered, the thinness of the sheet not designed to withstand such pressure. On the other side of the frame, countless small Klaxosaurs, their appearances not dissimilar to hermit crabs, were bludgeoning the door with their bodies. Each collision forced the door to contort more and more, its integrity rapidly decreasing with each ram. Her breathing was fast and irregular, she struggled to keep her mind on the task at hand, a downpour of thoughts raining around her. Goro felt the resistance on the controls, his partner's anxiety antagonizing his attempts at barring the entryway. Behind Delphinium the large frame of Genista was hunched over the smaller mech Argentea. They had been forced into this position because they underestimated the ability of the klaxosaurs. The lesson had been thoroughly learned, but they all doubted if they would ever survive to use that knowledge.

"Just hold out a little longer guys, Strelitzia will be here soon" Goro's unwavering voice ringed out in the cockpits of Squad 13's mechs, his attempt at reassurance falling on deaf ears. Miku had been unconscious for at least ten minutes now and the rest of his squad was mentally falling apart. He was helpless. Thick droplets of sweat dripped off of his pointed chin and his heart was thumping wildly against his chest.

The pressure was too much. The sheet of metal separating them from the horde of molten monsters was split into bits, multiple holes being punched through it by the swarm. Delphinium and Chlorophytum were blown away from the wall and quickly rose back to their feet, Goro and Mitsuru willing the Franxx to follow their commands.

"Run guys! Let's get out of here" he said as he grabbed Argentea by its limp, mechanical arm and dragged it after him as swiftly as he could down the passageway. Genista stood with haste and tried to discharge into the mob of beasts crashing into them, but its cannon's long and impractical barrel was promptly latched onto, the weight causing the muzzle to fall to the floor and detonate backwards on itself. Metal shrapnel exploded in the mine shaft, consuming the green and black mech in fire, blowing its arm off in a whirlwind of fragmentation. Kokoro's cries of pain could be heard along with Futoshi's arduous screams of effort as he tried to defend her.

The mech was overcome briskly, falling beneath the tidal wave of the blue horrors. Chlorophytum had attempted to suppress the horde with its twin pea shooters, but the vast quantity of beasts ultimately overran it in the same fashion as Genista. Delphinium tried as hard as it could to pull Argentea away from the tunnel, pure survival instinct fueling Goro's attempt to flee, but the klaxosaurs speedily caught up to the pair of Franxx. Argentea was pounced upon from all directions and Delphinium's legs were buckled by the weight of the creatures latching onto its back. The blue and white mech fell to its titanic knees and then flat onto its chest. Goro's ears were full of his squadmate's screams of pain. He had failed them. He outstretched his hand down the tunnel, reaching for something, anything. Ichigo screamed as the klaxosaurs began to bite into the thick metal alloy of the mech. The cockpit erupted in red warning messages, an alarm deafeningly loud around him. No. Please. Anyone.

An orange star shined in the hallway hundreds of feet ahead of him, the shadows caressing its lonely light. Ah. The light at the end of the tunnel. He'd read about this he thought, his body slowly settling into his seat, resignation wrapping its hands around his throat slowly. How pitiful. He blinked and over the ceaseless cacophony of the alarm he heard a buzzing sound. It was there for an instant and then it wasn't. A flash of red was in front of him, above him, and gone in a second. The teeming horde of klaxosaur's chirping was no longer audible. The creaking of the metal against his frame had ceased. All that was present in the cave was an explosion of blue liquid, the foreign substance gushing from all angles and spaces within the tunnel it seemed. His world was painted blue. And then it was black, blown out like a candle.

/

Giggles of sheer pleasure ricocheted off the walls of Strelitzia's cockpit. Zero Two was bouncing in her seat with delight. Hiro's unconscious form undulated with her own, his body limp against her back. She tore a brutal path through the endless horde of klaxosaurs in the deep mine's tunnels. The swarm was mere bubble wrap to her childlike enjoyment, her fangs popping them in droves of ecstacy. Strelitzia's claws were a blur, its spiked tail was a tempest, and its red frame was drenched in the blue essence of its enemies. She rounded a corner. They never stopped she thought to herself ecstatically. The klaxosaurs came to their emperor as willing sacrifices it seemed, she thought as she ripped through them. She pivoted on her paws to throw her tail in slicing arcs, the walls of the tunnel left with burning slashes against their surfaces. She exploded off her hind legs to clamp her jaws around the chew toys of molten energy, her teeth puncturing them like packets of honey, ravenous for the sweet liquid inside of them. Her claws eviscerated the beasts into fourths, fifths, and sixths of their former being, their innards splattering against the cold stone around them.

There weren't many left she knew, the boiling of her blood no longer bubbling. Angered at this thought she took particular exception to the remaining klaxosaurs. An incarnate image of gore, she lacerated and slit them shallowly, playing with her food. Blue blood spurted from countless carnal incisions across their carapaces. They were like barrels of beryl wine that had sprung an amplitude of leaks. She circled the few still living klaxosaurs and then brought her performance to an end. She streaked by them in a burst of flaming red, her tail flourishing, and her inner beast took a bow. The explosion of their cores echoing off the blue painted walls was her applause. The corner's of Zero Two's smile were almost to her horns and she licked her lips as if she had finished consuming a feast. The only sound left in her section of the tunnel was her own laughter, still reverberating off the cold walls of the Strelitzia.


	5. Chapter 5

A bombardment of laughter assailed him from all sides.

"What is this? How could this guy be better than us?"

Children let out giggles of joy but their eyes revealed envy deep within.

"Look at how slow he is! I can run circles around him!"

Brilliant blue eyes were locked onto the ground. Shoulders were hunched.

"Look at me when I talk to you! You're just a mess up!"

Tongues were laced with venom and lashed at him ceaselessly.

"You'll never be able to pilot a Franxx! Any day now you'll disappear!"

Ah. How wonderful that sounds.

 _Fond as you are, what could you know of hate,_

 _the secretly clenched fists, the silent tears,_

 _while every heartbeat drums revenge! Revenge!_

 _And one by one our talents are enslaved,_

 _being so fond, what do you know of hate?_

-from Les Fleurs du Mal by Charles Baudelaire

Dainty fingers painted patterns in the shallow lake water. Ripples danced across the surface of the murky liquid, originating from the silky skin kissing its face. A pointer finger stroked as if it was a brush wielded by a royal artist, digging long trenches into the dark pool. Pink hair was muddled in the blurry, brown reflection below Zero Two. Her turquoise eyes refracted into contorted blobs, staring back at her with discontent. Dirt particles encircled her wrist like a portal into the tepid lagoon, sucking her hand into another dimension. One with her darling she hoped longingly. Moonlight fell from the sky in sheets of ice. It wrapped her in blankets of luminescent fabric, cloths made of starlight. The sun had risen and set on her many times and she still was left alone in this birdcage, confusion and yearning devouring her like a pack of wolves let loose unto a lone doe that battled dusk and dawn alike in solitude.

The retrieval team had arrived to blue-blood coated hallways, walls destroyed with countless marks from Strelitzia's razor sharp tail and claws. The mining facility was no longer operational due to the damage caused during Zero Two's blissful rampage. Masked men had taken Hiro's unconscious form away, saying he needed treatment. Zero Two wished she'd argued, but coming down from the high of her ride with him made her just drowsy enough to not fully comprehend what they were doing, simply nodding as they grabbed him. This was days ago. Zero Two tightened her grip on her knees and withdrew her finger from the lake water. Dangling her hand above the lazy lakelet, droplets of bleak liquid slipped from her digit into the water like prophets leaping from a cliff one by one, their collision with the plane of the lake exploding into fountains of somber ichor.

She closed her eyes. The moist shore below her bare feet and the frigid breeze that circled the lake crashed into her skin, nipping at her mercilessly. She had asked many questions but received no answers. The woman the children of Squad 13 referred to as Nana had dodged her questions with the dexterity of a mouse, not letting slip any clue as to the whereabouts of her darling, only responding that he was being tended to somewhere that didn't concern her. She also disappeared the day following his "kidnapping", Zero Two not being able to find her anywhere. What a joke. She slid her hands along her calves and reluctantly rose to her feet, arms hanging at her sides, eyes still casted into the depths of the water like lead weights.

The battered members of Squad 13 had remained bedridden for the past few days, none of them even conscious yet. She didn't occasionally check on them in worry or even curiosity. The possibility of them knowing something about Hiro's location was the sole reason she continued to steal glances into their infirmary. She raised her eyes to the opposite bank of the lake, her eyes searching for their partner. Nothing stared back at her across the expanse of the dreary swill. Hurry home darling, she thought painfully.

/

Maniacal laughter rang out in a dimly lit room. A perpetual, dull buzzing could be heard from the hundreds of consoles fixed onto metal desks and walls. Crimson and orange light bathed the half-metal man who had his eye pressed to a high power microscope. Vials, flasks, and pipettes lined the edge of tables like crenellations. Precise measurements of liquid compounds and vile concoctions bubbled from within test tubes. Centrifuges span quietly, the hum of their revolutions drowned out by the babbling of the scientist who was now pacing back and forth across the dark chamber.

Laying on a nearby cot, a raven haired boy with strong blue eyes was strewned out. Bandages were wrapped about his arms, covering the puncture marks from countless syringes that now laid on a nearby steel counter. Bags of his vivid red blood were sitting beside the microscope The Doctor had been operating.

"What a farce!" he howled out, his words bouncing back to him off the cold walls around him. "The secret of his blood is no mystery at all!" he declared aloud, hands meeting his hips in pride, his body quaking in a fit of cackles. He waddled over to a blue console in the corner of the room and picked up a communicator device, proceeding to ping a call to his overseers, eager to share his discoveries. "It's as you said! He's not special at all. I'll have more produced by the end of the week" he quickly summarized his work with a little more emotion that usual, his distaste for the boy showing in his tone. An affirmative grunt from the other side of the line was his cue to disconnect from the call. Fiddling with the miniature gadget in his hand, he shuffled back over to Hiro's vulnerable body. His eyes narrowed and a maleficent grin surfaced on his wrinkly face. He would preserve his creation at any cost.

/

Three more days had passed. Zero Two idly walked the empty halls of the boarding house, her steps the only movement present in the seemingly vacant building. No dust gathered on any surfaces and no spider webs appeared in any corners, the soulless servants of the plantation would ensure that the lack of life wouldn't affect the condition of their dollhouse. She strode to the dining hall, leaning around the door frames of rooms as she went, hoping to see Hiro hiding somewhere, waiting for her to find him. Naive thoughts and she knew that. Entering through the doorway of the mess room, her eyes were met with the sight of another feast present on all the wooden tables. She would be eating alone again it seemed. No creaking wood or footsteps reverberated through the silent house. The sounds of her jaw working and food being swallowed down her throat were alone the only perceptible noise. She ate methodically and mechanically, her mind elsewhere. The cusp of a cup met her lips and she tilted her head back, downing the cold refreshment in a single gulp.

It seemed she just ended up trying to kill time every day, the meals being the highlights of her currently mundane life. She aimlessly wandered around the birdcage during the daytime, mastering the forest trails and learning the area like the back of her hand until the rumbling of her stomach forced her to return to the desolate dormitory. She licked her lips of the flavorful liquid in a subconscious habit, crossing her legs casually in her seat as she did so. She was at a loss for what to do. She had no idea what steps she needed to take to get her darling back. A shattering sound from below suddenly broke the layer of silence that had encased the room, shards of glass scattering across the floor beneath her. Zero Two glanced downwards to see the cup had slipped from her fingers. Odd. She tilted her head and it felt like a force was anchoring her to the earth, her brain registering all movement as impossibly heavy. Her hands went numb and her breathing slowed. Her head was spinning unfathomably fast but at the same time was still as a stone. Falling limply from her chair, she collided with the wooden planks of the floor forcefully, her senses dulled. The world around her became a uniform gray and her eyelids gradually shut themselves, sealing her turquoise gems within crypts of nausea. Gray faded to black.

/

Hiro opened his eyes to the familiar scenery of his bedroom. Moonlight flitted through an open window and his sheets protected him from a untamed, nocturnal gust that circled around him like a vulture. Ah. He'd passed out during the mission. Again. But, he was alive. The third ride with Zero Two didn't kill him he consoled himself, a tiny, genuine smile appearing on his still drowsy face. Pulling his covers off of himself, he went through the systematic process of boarding his wheelchair. He continued to roll out into the adjacent hallway, still dressed in just sleepwear. He pushed himself along the quiet corridors of the boarding house without a goal, just seemingly moving forwards without any intentions. He rounded a corner smoothly, the carpet below his wheels suppressing the sound of his rims meeting the ground.

The normally creaky wood of the building was now taciturn, no audible noise other than his chair's frame squeaking as it moved. That was until he rolled by a door to overhear the barely perceivable sound of weeping. He checked his surroundings and realized he was in front of the boarding house's makeshift infirmary. He scooted closer to the doorway, leaning forwards to crack the already slightly opened door even further agape. Inside the decadent sick bay, the usually empty beds were all filled with the members of his squad, all but one. The former occupant of the now empty bed was kneeling beside a cot, hands on her face and her body heaving with cries of grief. Hiro opened the door fully only for the just recently muted wood of the house to creak eerily loud.

The hunched body turned immediately to the sound and locked eyes with Hiro's, tears sent careening off of her face from the quick motion. Emerald orbs were encased in a glaze of liquid anguish. Short blue hair was ruffled from bedhead and pressed against her scalp, no signature, white clip being present in the usual spot near the top of her navy colored bangs. Her cheeks were clearly red in the ashen beam that fell upon her like a lunar spotlight from the sky. Thin eyebrows rose in recognition above the long eyelashes that framed her pained eyes. She stood unsteadily on her short legs, arms wrapped around her midsection tightly, gripping her quaking sides in an effort to calm herself down it seemed.

"Hi-, Hiro" a fearful voice flew across the room to him, the wobbly tone of her voice making his eyes open in worry that was atypical of him. She took a single, shaky step towards him, her lips pressed together stiffly in a taut line.

"Ichigo?" he questioned without thinking, the syllables of the word drawled unintentionally. His unsure hands stopped their motion at his sides and he sat deathly still in the doorway of the infirmary. Ichigo brought her right leg forwards in another unstable step, her leg bending at her knee from the lack of support. She collapsed onto her front leg and dropped to her knees once more, tears flung from her cheeks onto the dry floorboards.

"Th-, this is all my fault" she accused herself harshly, her tongue suddenly caustic as if she was trying to verbally burn herself in a form of recompense. "I'm the reason, the reason they have to go through this!" she raised her voice and her fingers pushed aggressively against the hardwood beneath her, hands clenching into fists. Her right hand jumped from the boards and was brought back down in a howl of self-resentment. The sturdy wood did not give in to the weak impact of her strike. Pain shot through her mind but the sensation did little to dull the wildfire of hate spreading through her arteries.

"It might very well be" a calm voice escaped Hiro's mouth, his eyes no longer latched onto Ichigo's lamenting form. Ichigo inhaled sharply at his callous words, like she had been smacked across her cheek. He knew what she felt. He knew all too well what thoughts were throwing themselves against the sides of her mind. He looked to her again, calm. "And everyone around you might even agree with you" he pushed on his rims once more, rolling away from her gaze to the window sill, entering a shaft of white light. He looked over his shoulder back to her, "But you're here, whether you like it or not." He thought back to his own childhood. He'd spent almost his entire life blaming himself for being inadequate. How he'd always curse himself for being weaker than everyone around him. Then he'd met her. Pink hair came crashing into his universe like a wrecking ball colliding with a rotting tree. It was like destiny was a resource that humans could purchase with the currency of misfortune. Zero Two was his compensation for the childhood he spent crying alone, the youth he'd spent loathing all he was and the little he could become. Hiro didn't know the circumstances of Ichigo's sadness, but the pain that poisoned her irises and leaked from her eyes in droplets dubbed tears was all too recognizable. He paused, endeavoring to transcribe what thoughts sailed the sea of his mind into units of language. This emotion could never be labeled by the miniscule capacity that letters retained, but he would try. "Struggle. It's the only choice we have Ichigo. Just struggle as much as you can in this sick game they call life" his words were levelly spoken and it was unclear to which of the two conscious people in the room he was addressing.

Wiping tears from her eyes with her unbruised hand, she replied weakly, "What's the point? If I can't lead my squad to victory in a mission as simple as that then what's the point in even trying!" Hiro turned to her fully now, a slight, knowing smile on his face.

"Hmm, that's exactly what I thought" a breeze blew a curtain to the side, covering the window sill, shrouding him in shadows as he reminisced. "Then I found a reason" the oceans of his eyes were peaceful, no waves or ripples present. The curtain returned to the side of the window and Hiro was enveloped by moonlight once more, his pale skin shining in the silver rays, "You just need to find one too." Ichigo's shaking stopped and her mouth opened slightly in awe. Cupid took flight. The devious child had let loose an arrow upon Ichigo many years ago, but this time he returned with a mallet, hammering the bolt deep into her core. Her tears finished their journey to her chin and left her, no longer pilgrimaging from the corners of her eyes. "Ichigo?" his simple question broke her revery, her head barely visibly recoiling as she snapped out of her trance. She sniffled and ran her still functioning hand across her face, wiping the last of the manifested sadness from her features.

"Anyways, what happened?" his face was tinted a deep shade of red and he turned away from Ichigo to the window once more, the reality of the words he'd spoken to her striking him like a mace, dazing him with embarrassment. He moved a hand through his thick, black hair awkwardly. Ichigo laughed. Tears reemerged, descending across the previously carved canals on her face that were formed by the corrosive tears she had priorly shed. These droplets were of a different chemical makeup however. Her soft giggles rolled across the room to Hiro like clouds blown by a maiden's lips. She cried. Because she knew how hopelessly gone she was. How hopelessly in love she was with the cripple boy who'd shown her how to walk again.

After some five minutes of what seemed to be to Hiro, hysteria, Ichigo recalled the events of the operation. The memory of her inability to stay in control of her emotions and failing her teammates slightly dampened her mood. It occured to Hiro at this point that he still hadn't seen Zero Two, which was odd since she usually would make sure she was the first thing he'd see upon awakening. Ichigo had apparently only woken up hours prior to Hiro happening upon her. Hiro rolled by Ichigo's sitting position on her temporary bed to the one that she had been kneeling by. Miku's unconscious form was bruised and multiple bandages were applied to her body, her frame mostly concealed by cloth blankets. A long cut ran across her forehead and stitches were sutured into her creamy skin, a black wire weaving in and out of her face. Discomfort was still perceivable on her comatose form.

"And Zero Two?" he finally voiced his concern to Ichigo, who had walked over to Hiro and was now standing behind him.

"Your guess is as good as mine" her quick response not doing much to satisfy Hiro's worries. Ichigo was fiddling with her hair, her clip back in its usual spot. Steady thudding could be heard in the adjoined hallway and seconds later Nana dashed into the room, sweat rolling down her forehead.

"We need you to come with me right now! There's a klaxosaur approaching the plantation!" her urgent words were spoken briskly and as an order. As such Ichigo moved to grab the handles of Hiro's chair.

"I'll be fine, don't worry" Hiro waved her off calmly, "Good luck." Ichigo frowned and quietly withdrew her outstretched hands back to her sides, ready to run off with Nana.

"You too Hiro, we'll need you" Nana interjected their farewell suddenly. Hiro shifted his gaze to his caretaker in confusion.

"What am I going to do? Watch?" he joked in a downtrodden voice.

"You're going to pilot Delphinium, you're the only stamen here" she explained calmly, as it was the most obvious answer ever. Hiro's eyes narrowed incredulously.

"I can't fly without Zero Two" he tried to argue stubbornly.

"Oh, but you can" Nana asserted, her eyes locked onto his with intimidating power as she began to withdraw from the room. Knowing she wasn't one for histrionics he sighed loudly, following her retreating form.

/

Ichigo felt both excitement and concern as she straddled her seat within the cockpit of Delphinium, Hiro seated just behind her. She frequently stole glances back at him over her shoulder but his eyes seemed to refuse to look away from his feet. Her white piloting suit felt tighter than usual, the stagnant air in the cockpit suffocating her already nervous mind. She'd never had the chance to pilot with Hiro other than in her wildest dreams. She wouldn't mess up this time. She'd be better than her last operation, for his sake.

Hiro, on the contrary, had resigned himself to the demise of Plantation 13. If he was the only one who could save Cerasus, then it indeed had a grim fate awaiting it. He'd never get used to the stuffy cockpits of these mechs he thought as he ran a hand through his hair, squeezing his eyes shut tightly in annoyance. If only Zero Two was here. Hiro noticed that at least Ichigo seemed confident in their chances at succeeding, she was practically bubbling over with energy.

"There's only one airborne conrad-class klaxosaur, it's approaching the plantation from the west" Nana informed them over the comms, her voice making Hiro raise his eyes only to catch a glimpse of Ichigo's staring back at him.

"Let's get this over with then" he exhaled pessimistically as the clamps holding the white and blue Franxx in place released their locks. Ichigo turned her head forwards and inhaled deeply in preparation, trying to steel herself for the oncoming mission. She'd get it right this time. The lights along her spine lit up in a soft orange light and her heavy, metal helmet slid over her eyes. The Franxx whistled to life as the holographic displays around her popped up one by one. An abrupt thud from behind her caused her to yelp in surprise. She strained to look behind her from underneath her opaque visor but eventually distinguished Hiro's limp form leaning back in his seat.

"Hiro?" she questioned loudly, her heart asphyxiating briefly in panic.

"Don't worry Ichigo, everything is working as it should be" Nana reassured her before she took any irrational action. Still slightly unsure, Ichigo hesitantly began to funnel her focus into the connection between her and Hiro. She heard a blaring sound above, which unknown to her was the negative pulse meter filling up with irregular speed. Her breathing hitched and she felt like she was socked in the gut. She tried to shake her head, disregarding the heavy metal enveloping it. Then, like a landslide ripping across a mountainside, an indescribable sensation of power shot through her blood. She accidentally yelled aloud from the raw vigor electrifying her system, like she'd been injected with pure lightning.

Delphinium's massive blue helmet suddenly split into two separately colored segments, the metal screeching apart violently. The rest of the mech seemed to collapse on itself and the arms fanned out into two gigantic appendages that resembled wings. The white-blue mech's stampede mode appeared to be some sort of avian creature, the twin magma infused spears transforming into a blade like surface that covered the front of the Franxx's wings and beak, the orange material scintillating in the ever present moonlight that rained down on the desert. Ichigo was struggling to remain in control, again. Sheer willpower and determination to not make the same mistake twice led her to stalwartly retain control of the mech.

A distant shriek made the mech's head snap upwards in predatory fashion, searching for its prey. A gargantuanly sized klaxosaur, that was identical in anatomy to a butterfly, was sluggishly travelling towards them far overhead in the clouds. The claws of Delphinium's two legs pushed off against the ground and the mech effortlessly took flight, thrusters contouring the rear of the machine multiplying its momentum tenfold, propelling the dart of metal like a bullet into the stratosphere. White metal flashed and disappeared only for the air to crack seconds later, a crater left where the beast had taken off. Ichigo, and the Franxx, were both soaring.

(AN - struggling a bit to get going on any single tangent right now, so the pace is gonna slow down for releases. I hate not being satisfied with something i put out and this chapter just didn't feel like it was to my full ability. nevertheless its purpose was fufilled and I promise the next one will be waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than this sod. we on some transformer shit now, ty for sticking with it. discovering some things about trying to consistenly write and find the inspiration to do so well enough to fit my standards. its all for fun tho so, tytyty, and lastly, les fleurs du mal is just my favorite book so you can expect more edgy quotes)


	6. Chapter 6

Long nails dragged across a solid metal surface.

"You said that this wouldn't happen."

Lengthy red horns sprouted forth from between waves of pink hair.

"It's only going to get worse."

Empty turquoise eyes stared apathetically through a wall.

"She won't last if this continues."

A limp body sprawled out on its side, skin bare against a cold floor.

"Just… give me some more time. I will make it work."

/

Massive flaps of black flesh swung back in forth in the clouds, the vaporous water particles around them being gusted about like dust blown from an old book cover. Illustrious patterns covered the entirety of the two enormous wings that thrashed powerfully against the chilly midnight gale that rolled over the earth's forlorn shell. A pair of monstrous antennae sprouted from an obsidian appendage that resembled a head, glowing azure bulbs adorning the tops of the gigantic stalks. The massive thorax of the insectoid beast was ribbed with crevices of scintillating sapphire energy, the voltage refusing to remain sheathed within the beast's core. A metal chassis, plates of white and blue reflecting moonlight, streaked through the stratosphere like a bolt of lightning released from Zeus' palm. Clouds were dragged along by the sheer velocity of the darting object, their shapes stretching into long spires that trailed the mech's path, lines of white littering the midnight atmosphere.

Ichigo struggled to breathe as she was winded for the third time from accidentally relenting control of Delphinium. Blood pumped like tidal waves into and from her overworked heart, her veins and arteries bulging through her skin like rebellious prisoners sealed in the depths of her epidermis. Sweat consistently leaked forth from all her pores, the tight material of her suit feeling like a sarcophagus around her, causing her to scrape at her neck for any oxygen she could gather. She cursed her every exhalation, knowing she would be incapable of retrieving the amount she released. Her mind struggled to keep up with the insane speeds at which the Franxx propelled itself as she quickly became more and more lightheaded with each passing second. Her dazed state reflected on the mech's movements, the avian-like frame spinning wildly against the wind around it, flipping and rolling like a falcon with a clipped wing. Ichigo shook her head willfully, trying to clear her repressed cognitive functions and reclaim the ability to pilot her mech. Given an instant of respite from the overdose of energy that permeated throughout her system, she focused her sights on the airborne klaxosaur that slowly progressed towards them. She snarled aggressively, drool sliding from her thin lips and mingling with the small puddle of sweat beneath her. Ichigo leaned forwards in her seat as she charged towards the butterfly-like creature.

Her focus faded as briefly as it came, Delphinium beginning to spiral uncontrollably on its collision course with the klaxosaur, clouds visibly twisting into a cyclone about the exterior of the mech. It was like gravity wielded her as a dagger, heaving the machine into the beast with ravenous intensity. The beak of Delphinium ripped through the thin, fleshy sheet of the klaxosaur's wing like a cannonball tearing through sheets of paper. Royal-blue blood entwined with the clouds that wreathed about the mech's trajectory, a tornado of the klaxosaur's vital fluids erupting from its tremendous, shadowy appendage. Ichigo's head smacked against the console beneath her, the hard metal of her helmet not cushioning the blow in the least. The klaxosaur, its ability to fly steadily now damaged, awkwardly attempted to remain in flight, flapping its wings desperately. Ichigo raised her bruised forehead upwards again to see the behemoth was still approaching Cerasus at dangerous speeds. She attempted to turn the mech about face and shoot after the klaxosaur again, but upon shifting the yaw of her vehicle she immediately lost all stability, the speed at which she was accelerating and the air around her hurling her with the temper of an angry child throwing his toy. The out of control body of Delphinium careened into the wasteland below, skidding for thousands of feet before slowing to a painful halt, a path of shattered, dry dirt scarring the earth it had skidded past. Ichigo was knocked completely unconscious by the blunt trauma of her impact with the ground, the crumpled wings of her Franxx instinctively wrapping about its form in an effort to shield itself.

Far above, the blood seeking arthropod finally fell from the sky as it lost the last of its ability to remain airborne. Hugging its wings to its injured abdomen, the klaxosaur spiralled into the dead sands only thousands of meters away from the metal walls of the Plantation. The insides of the beast began to glare brightly during its plunge, the innards of the animal exploding like a beacon of blue in the dark, nocturnal backdrop that encompassed it. Its skin began to morph and stretch as if a demon within was trying to burst forth from its solid confines, blue columns of fire bellowing from the canyons of cerulean that covered its descending corpse. Ichigo peered from between Delphinium's battered wings and held her breath.

The massive frame of the klaxosaur collided with the planet, an obelisk of disturbed dust being blasted into the heavens. Shrapnel in the form of loosened rocks were launched by the thousand in a volley in all directions, their sharp stone edges lacerating the exterior shell of the plantation before any sound was even released from the explosion. From within the detonation of dirt, a glowing ball of blue fire was visible welling up. The waves of brown air that were previously rolling violently across the badlands were completely devoured by an avalanche of wispy blue flames that expanded ceaselessly outwards from the klaxosaur's impact point. The dome of hellish inferno tore through the world like wildfire, the desolate land being eaten in voracious chunks as the ever expanding supernova struggled to satiate its desire for material sustenance. The sturdy metal of Cerasus was slammed into by the furthest reaches of the explosion and the devilish, blue fire melted the alloy like butter submerged into a volcano. And finally, a clap akin to the howl of a lamenting god, blasted across the scarred lands of Mother Earth, its volume kicking up another layer of virgin dirt into the already sand lavish void. The moon fell into its coffin in the west and the weary sun dawned in the east, peeking its eyes over the horizon, horrified and searching for answers in the charred devastation before it.

/

An immense breach in the plantation's hull leaked morning sunlight into the open expanse of its previously hidden empire, the once glorious, golden towers now an ugly grey in the embrace of the colorful sunrise. Hiro's eyes scanned the ever empty streets of the inner city from his position on a descending elevator. Cerasus inhaled smog like it was oxygen, thick clouds of smoke flowing steadily through the hole punched into its shell. Hiro's face was apathetic as the elevator doors opened to his destination. He hesitated within the steel pod, his eyes flickering in uncertainty, questions clouding his brilliant-blue orbs. Releasing a pensive sigh he wheeled forth from the chamber and into the cold hallways of the plantation, the familiar corridors and their mundane features doing little to comfort his overclocked mind. He knew they'd flown. And he also knew that it still wasn't good enough. He raised his head realizing he was passing through the docking bay.

Delphinium was piled into a corner of the room, its frame charred black and its metal melted together in some places. The effects of the klaxosaur's explosion were evident on the wrecked physique before him. He returned his head to his feet and continued by the rest of Squad 13's broken mechs. He rolled silently through the passages of Cerasus' levels, doubt and controversy plaguing his face. A slight, occasional creaking from his chair and the perpetual sound of his wheels pushing against the ground were the only sounds in the otherwise vacant facility.

Hiro eventually snapped out of his ponderment only to realize he'd arrived at the boarding house, the dirt beneath his chair sinking slightly under the weight of his transport. The sun that was now high in the sky was beating down on his back, the thin fabric of his uniform doing little do shield him from the fire raining onto him. He weakly pushed against his rims, moving up the access ramp beside the stairs, and entered the wooden building. He returned to the infirmary he had just left hours ago, the planks of the floor still marked where Ichigo's tears had fallen.

Ichigo. He moved to her now occupied bed and examined the girl's unconscious form. A soft bruise purpled her left cheek and her lips were slightly askew, features wrenched in worry. The strands of her blue hair were tied back above her forehead with a single hair tie, a damp cloth pressed against her head beneath it. Most prominently, a massive burn mark covered the entire right side of her face. The malformed skin started at her neck and ran up her posterior to the edges of her scalp, the discoloration completely contrasting her usually vivacious complexion. The sheets of the bed were perfectly folded over her chest, like someone had used a ruler to line up the individual layers across her body. Maintaining eye contact with her gruesome injuries was like repeatedly stabbing himself with a needle, guilt puncturing him deeply.

The sound of a page turning caused Hiro to examine his surroundings within the infirmary for the first time since he had arrived. Cross legged sitting in a wooden chair in the corner of the room, Nana flipped through a small handbook, the shafted light from the windows passing through the weathered pages easily. Her hair was burning bright in the sun and a long shadow was thrown of her resting silhouette.

"It might not look like it", her eyes never left the timeworn sheets of the book, "but you two saved us all." The straight line of Hiro's mouth divulged into a frown, his anger finally getting the best of him.

"Is this some sort of sick joke" blue fire blazed forth from his eyes, his tongue like a whip doused in gasoline cracking in ardour. "I'm fine with never being able to know what it's like to pilot a Franxx, to not be able to experience these missions with my own two eyes" his fingers coiled harshly against the arm rests of his chair, his already pale skin becoming strikingly more white. "Where is she" he demanded, memories of his partner skipping across his vision. Nana used the fingers of her right hand to close the book, the battered spine of the novel visibly stretching from the pages being squeezed within it.

"Nowhere of your concern" her voice was by no means hostile and for a split second something akin to empathy flickered in her eyes. The scorching rays of the sun stretched farther and farther across the wooden floor, like gluttonous limbs clawing towards their prey.

Hiro scoffed, "Of course it isn't." He shut his eyes and shook his head repeatedly, his finger tapping agitatedly against the cushions now ripping beneath his hands. "Of course" he exhaled as he opened his eyes once more. The sunlight had enveloped the members of Squad 13 in its torturous warmth, all except Ichigo, to which the beams had only sheathed half of her body in its amber clutches, her burned skin coalescing with the little darkness still present. Nana's eyes were indifferently staring at his own, but he refused to meet them, not wanting to grant her, or the organization she represented, any form of respect. His brain was lit up with disgust and rage at being denied that which it desired most. He was addicted to the drug of her turquoise eyes and the alcohol of her flirtatious voice, and was now suffering from withdrawal. A brisk breeze broke against his strained features, providing him with a moment of rationale. His thick, raven black hair glided on the gentle current, his revealed visage now the absolute image of serenity. He leaned forwards in his seat, the chair lurching into the reach of the sunlight. He'd finally found something worth fighting for. The sun wrapped its fingers around his throat gently, its light slowly rising up his clothes and his face. Perplexing, bluish-green eyes had glared life into him once more. Direct contact with her skin had allowed his husk to absorb enough essence to become human once again. Pink hair had struck him like a paintbrush, varnishing his grey surroundings in a rainbow of color. He'd be damned if he willingly slipped himself back into that mental noose he had once eagerly hid inside of. "What do I need to do" his eyes ultimately met hers, the glaring sun embracing him gladly as he ushered his vocal ultimatum.

"For what" she asked boredly, albeit having set the book down as she turned her full attention to the crippled boy before her.

"Don't play games with me Nana" Hiro shook his head quickly, dismissing her attempt at feigning ignorance. She frowned at his bold comment, not used to hearing backtalk from her charges.

"It's not for me or you to say" she declined his passionate inquiry, long, crimson locks falling from her shoulder to her lap as she turned away from Hiro. The sweltering temperatures flowing inwards hitting him directly caused sweat to form beneath his uniform.

"Wasn't this supposed to be paramount for all of us?" he flipped her words against her, his temper kindled by her verbal evasiveness. "Isn't this what Papa wanted?" he emphasized the word papa venomously.

"Don't speak of him like that, that's disrespectful" she rebutted him as if his statement had personally offended her.

"Or what?" he questioned boldly, riding the fiery tangent he had embarked upon, "I'll be kidnapped in the night?" His tone was so frigid that Nana swore she could see mist from where the syllables he released evaporated in the scorching air around his lips. She uncrossed her legs upon hearing this remark, her apathetic features finally morphing to a frown. "Your whole organization's purpose is to force kids to die for some grand scheme we'll never even know about!" his voice raised in resent. He had at last found happiness and the masked boogeymen had snatched it away in the night. "Aren't we human too? What gives you the right to sentence us to death?" he demanded ferociously. "We're supposed to fight monsters while obeying monsters? What a sick, stupid, pathetic attempt at a joke!" a drop of sweat fell from his hairline to the crevice of his brow. "Why can't you just leave us alone!" his chair squeaked from the pressure he exerted unto it. His hair fell down to cover his eyes, his body heaving in exhalations, perspiration flowing freely down his arms beneath his sleeves. For seconds the only sounds in the room were the warm breaths escaping his mouth. He eventually regained some of his composure and inclined his head to Nana again. A single, glistening tear drop slipped forth from the corner of her teal eye and rolled down across her cheek. Her face lit up in surprise as she raised a hand to the droplet, wiping it away in confusion. She examined her now wet digit completely baffled. Her features were neither sad nor happy. "Nana?" he queried, his tone infinitely softer than it was just seconds ago.

Another tear slithered from her eye and she covered her face with her hands, eyes wide directly against her palms, "Why?"

/

"Code 779, begin" an agitated voice rang through an intercom. A bald stamen inhaled steadily and steeled his resolve for his first ever mission. His muscular frame and athletic figure bulged beneath the tight black piloting suit. He'd been selected alongside a dozen or so other males of equal stature to leave the garden and participate in this specific project. The red suit of his partner for the operation was bright in the otherwise dim cockpit. Her long, pink hair fell in waterfalls and sprawled out across the cold metal below them. Two large unusual horns weighed her head down and caused her to keep her eyes trained on the ground, the growths uncomfortably heavy for her neck. He was curious, scared even, but The Doctor had instructed him that he was lucky to be contributing to his research in this way and he'd be wise to hold his tongue. And with that, Code 779 shook the fears from his mind and began to focus on his connection to the mysterious girl.

Her spine lit up in a row of orange bulbs, the metal skeleton buzzing to life as two triggered handles popped up in front of him. He grabbed hold of the grips and clasped them tightly, his forearms flexing as he squeezed them confidently. As he released a long exhale, the lights of the Franxx lit up around them, the display of the outside world appearing before him. He'd heard things from his fellow pilots about what controlling a Franxx was like. This experience failed to match any of those stories. It felt like he was punched in the gut, the startup of the mech effectively winding him. His eyes shot open in pain and his arms strained tightly, the metal controls in his hands slipping from the sweat congealing in his large palms. The pistil screamed out in a spasm below him and he struggled to turn to her, wondering if she was enduring the same agony he was. She began to jump around in her seat, her horns scraping across the floor.

The bright lights of the now active cockpit allowed Code 779 to clearly analyze his surroundings for the first time since entering the chamber. A mess of scratch marks littered the steel beneath the girl. He turned his gaze to her to realize this whole time she'd been fastened to her seat, composite ropes anchoring her down to the chassis. She relented violently against the bindings that restricted her, harrowing cries deafening Code 779's hearing. The controls that he held in his hands rapidly folded back into their compartments on her sides, the hard metal thwacking into his fingers as it went, the industrial strength of the movement injuring him and causing him to curse in even more discomfort. He clenched his hands to his chest and keeled over in his seat, gritting his teeth.

Strelitzia's catlike form growled loudly and raked its claws against the floor of the dropship it was held in. The panels beneath it suddenly slid away and the mech fell freely to the earth far below. A horde of klaxosaurs teemed about the badlands. Code 779 bit his lip in an attempt to alleviate. He'd never heard from the six pilots who'd gone before him into this experiment. He had a good idea why now. Zero Two howled out as Strelitzia crashed into the earth, a geyser of dust exploding upwards from their landing. Steam poured out of the mechs joints rapidly and constantly, shrouding the machine in a veil of white smog. Imposing red stars glared back at the klaxosaurs through the opaque fog. Fire shot up above the steam clouds as the Strelitzia burst into action, the engines on its hind legs igniting into infernal columns. The mech plunged into a swarm of thousands of blue-black klaxosaurs, using itself as a projectile. Metal was sheared and flesh was rended. Droves of monsters latched onto the feline shape of Strelitzia and it bludgeoned itself viciously against rocks and the ground to free itself. Snarling the entire time, the mech slithered across the horde like a scythe slashing across stalks of grass. Blue blood flew stories high and rained back to the ocean of azure gore below, a precipitation of horrid essence.

Code 779's eyes rolled back into his head and his jaw fell limply from his face, drool escaping his numb lips. The rapid movements of the mech broke him from his seat belts that were nowhere near strong enough to protect him from the concussive force that now launched him into the sides of the mech like a tennis ball. Blood sprayed out in splatters against the white lights of the mech, holograms sprayed in fountains of red ichor. His sturdy frame was barely able to remain in one piece, the crumpled plate of his piloting uniform covered in the blood that dribbled from his mouth.

Zero Two's forehead bulged with veins, red, glowing liquid visibly flowing within her arteries. Her mind was on fire and she was rage incarnate, unleashing death like a reaper unto the klaxosaurs who were unlucky enough to come across her. She eviscerated them using only slight notions in her mind, the absolute decimation of their kind as simple as swatting a fly to her. A buzzing sound continued to grow in the back of her mind and her ears drummed in thunderous fashion as she sliced through masses like a dervish. She banged her head against the ground below her again and again and again, her horns cracking from the force. One horn splintered into crystals of crimson, shattering at its stump on her forehead. She pushed her fingers fiercely against the alloy of the floor, her nails snapping back on themselves. The left side of her head, still cumbersome from her now single horn, pressed against the frigid metal sheets of the ground. Her cheek squished against her bared fangs and her red eyes burned holes in every direction she glanced, her pupils flicking around panickedly like a cornered and injured lioness.

The cloud of mechanical steam that enveloped Strelitzia eventually cleared out and the statue of the blue coated mech stood alone amongst a heap of klaxosaur corpses. A mass burial consumed the whole valley, evidence of her genocide against the comparably incompetent creatures. Code 779 ended up leaned against the walls of the mech, his crumpled form wheezing aberrantly. His eyelids shut slowly and he let loose a last breath, bruised arm falling limply from its position clenching his shoulder before finally crashing into the ground, fingers sprawled open and upwards. Zero Two's twitching red eyes began to slow, the pain extinguishing from her burnt nerves. Shock set in as blood slipped from her chapped lips to the floor, wrapping the fragments of her horn in puddles of sanguine red. Her tired eyelids closed drowsily and she quivered as she felt her now acidic blood flow throughout her battered body.

/

Goro shot up in his bed like he'd been shocked by defibrillators, the cloth sheets wrapped about him springing into the air, kicking up clouds of dust. He breathed rapidly, his eyes dilated and searching the room around him anxiously. He made out the figures of his squad mates beside him. A recollection of the events that caused him to be in this room made him bury his face in his lap, hands sliding through his thick, blonde hair. He'd let them down. He threw his legs over the bedside, the bare pads of his feet soft against the rugged wood of the floor. The sun was setting beyond the open window sills across the room, insect's chirps audible outside. He took a testing step and winced slightly in pain. Shrugging off the miniscule but sharp tenderness of his lower half, he rose to his feet, beige sleepwear loosely hanging from his lanky form. He moved to the bed directly adjacent to his right and examined the owner.

Kokoro's waist-long, blonde hair was spread out around her head like a bed of flowers. Her hands were crossed and resting on top of her chest above the sheets that hid most of her body from sight. Her mouth was slightly opened, like she had been bludgeoned in the middle of a cry for help. Her right eye was darkened by a large black eye. The foreign bruise had no place on her otherwise unscathed native skin. He shook his head and gritted his teeth in disgust at himself. His inability to command his squad had ended up putting them all in a critical state. What a sorry excuse of a leader he was. He swayed on his tall legs, feet shuffling in an effort to stay upright.

"Goro" a soft voice warmly crashed into his back. Casting his gaze back over his shoulders, Goro looked back to see Hiro seated at someone's bedside, his cerulean eyes studying him.

"Hiro?" he questioned in a shallow tone, the feinted pitch he spoke in barely detectable. Hiro broke eye contact and returned his attention to the body of the pistil below him. Goro trudged over eventually, the planks of the boarding house uncomfortably warm below his bare skin. As he got closer, Goro realized that the person Hiro was seated beside was Ichigo, his partner. Taking in her massive scar and her battered frame with a gasp, he collapsed to his knees beside her bed, his knees slamming painfully into the solid floor. Hiro took in his squadmate's downcast and pitiful form, a rare flicker of empathy becoming buoyant in his mind. Hiro hesitantly moved his hands to his push rims, guiding himself around the foot of Ichigo's bed and to Goro's side. He cautiously reached out with a hand, not fully knowing himself what he was doing. Goro's pained eyes curiously appraised Hiro's actions. Hiro placed his hand on his shoulder, fingers wrapping gently around the rounded body part.

"You did all you could, Goro." he stated, voice just stern enough to dissuade any rebuttal. Goro's eyes widened further and his body shook once. Twice. The six words were so short yet still meant the world to him. It was evident in Hiro's eyes that he knew exactly what Goro was feeling, and Hiro's understanding broke down dams erected in his restless mind. He toppled into a sobbing mess, launching himself into Hiro's uncertain arms, floodgates collapsing from a landslide of camaraderie. Hiro stayed completely still, his shirt dampening from Goro's tears. They did their best. And that's all anyone could ever ask of them.

(AN - yikess. action scenes and symbolism. the feedback and reads im getting are amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing, thank you everyone for reading this weird shit)


	7. Chapter 7

I hear it in my voice - that shrillness

That poison in my blood!

I am the sinister glass in which

The Fury sees herself!

I am the knife and the wound it deals,

I am the slap and the cheek,

I am the wheel and the broken limbs,

Hangman and victim both!

I am the vampire at my own veins,

One of the great lost horde

Doomed for the rest of time, and beyond,

To laugh - but smile no more.

-from Les Fleurs du Mal by Charles Baudelaire

/

One by one the downtrodden members of Squad 13 shuffled into the weathered commons room. They aloofly took seats on the various couches littering the room. Wounds were rubbed and bruises were fingered curiously, fear still apparent on most of the squad's faces. Everyone's eyes were trained on the middle of the room, where a single raven-haired boy was seated in a wheelchair. Uncertainty and trauma weakened the usually colorful auras the teenagers emanated.

"Hiro, please," Goro spoke up from his position seated to Hiro's side, his head resting on the platform of his crossed hands, "what happened?" Hiro pensively rose his eyes from the ground and scanned the members of the team individually. Miku was rubbing the long scar on her forehead and her messy red hair ran freely past her shoulders in an unkempt fashion. Seated on the same sofa, Kokoro sat with her knees bent inwards, twiddling her thumbs anxiously while keeping her eyes trained to the ground. Standing behind their seat and leaning against the wall, Ikuno wiped the dusty lenses of her glasses against her white hospital gown, the freckles that dotted her skin darkened by the shadows of her downcast face, her royal purple eyes narrowed. On the other side of the room, Zorome was sprawled out across the majority of a large, curved couch, his feet dangling off the edge and his eyes cloudy from the thoughts thundering in his mind. Futoshi sat on the remainder of the couch, leaned back against the sturdy cushions behind him, eyes closed and mouth pressed into a stern line, his typically smooth skin purpled by various bruises. Lastly, Mitsuru sat alone in a wooden chair hidden away in the corner of the room, a large bandage wrapped about the majority his face and covering his left eye. He probed the wound carefully, testing the limits of the physical contact he could endure.

With a deep breath, Hiro responded monotonously to Goro's query, "We survived." Seeing an incredulous look arise on many of his peer's faces caused him to elaborate, albeit choosing to not go into too much detail about his suicide mission he'd undertaken with Ichigo.

Ichigo. The girl was still out like a light when the rest of the squad had risen from the beds, weary eyes scanning their surroundings in apparent terror. Hiro struggled to get the image of her massive scar out of his mind, the charred flesh reflected into his vision no matter where he looked. The shadows of the room, the shade of Ikuno's hair, the dark wood of the walls, he could see her suffering in all facets of the boarding house.

"So," Zorome began in a hesitant tone, " we won?"

Turning in his seat, Hiro met Zorome's worried eyes, "Yes, barely, but we succeeded. If you can call that victory." Hiro's own demeanor was certainly not confident, the pyrrhic battles he'd endured still raw in the flesh of his memory.

"We almost died" Miku rose her shaky voice, the reality of the situation continuing to bury her further and further in a tomb of anxiety. Kokoro reached out to her with unsteady hands and ran her palms across the plane of Miku's back in comforting circles, trying to reassure the quivering pistil.

"But we didn't" Goro clarified as he rose to his feet, feeling much more energetic than just hours prior when he had collapsed before Hiro. "We completed our first mission as Franxx pilots, regardless of the circumstances" his newfound confident voice rang out across the room filled with wallowing souls.

"All of us almost died to the bottom feeders of the klaxosaurs, some excuse for victory that is. What kind of Franxx squad can't kill a bunch of brain dead balls?" Mitsuru cynically joined the conversation with a dissuaded scoff and a grunt as he applied too much pressure to his forehead.

"Our Franxx squadron, Mitsuru" Goro challenged him levelly, "We've gotten through our first operation. It's only uphill from here." Ikuno's eyes darkened further and Kokoro began to fiddle with her thumbs at a more rapid pace. Futoshi sniffled a cry and wiped some stray snot from the cusp of his nostril.

Mitsuru shook his head in disagreement and uncaged his viper tongue venomously, "Had we had some actually competent leaders maybe we wouldn't have been in that situation." Goro's eyes flared up with zeal and he took a intimidating step towards Mitsuru's dark corner.

"Oh and you would've done so much better? You would've led us out of that hell hole so easily?" Goro rebutted with conviction, his self-confidence stalwart. He knew he did everything he could and he wouldn't let his snobby squad mate tag him as the scapegoat. Ikuno rubbed her right leg against her left leg subconsciously and put more of her weight against the wooden planks she was supported by. Zorome roller over so his chest was downwards and he flicked his head between Goro and Mitsuru rapidly, his eyes searching for any que as to the intentions of a face's owner.

"I know that if I led the squad, we wouldn't have had to rely on that freak to save us!" Mitsuru snapped harshly at Goro, attempting to douse him in gasoline, hoping his teammates would add to the fire. Hiro sat flabbergasted between the two barking hounds. It wasn't his problem, right? He was never part of this dysfunctional group anyways. Even if he said something, his opinion would be shunned by the majority as an irrelevant one. Another image of Ichigo flashed across his mind, causing him to doubt his position immediately. Mitsuru staggered to his feet, his unsteady toes struggling to support him on his fiery, verbal campaign. His deep olive eyes were glazed over in uncontrolled vehemence and his tongue continued to sting with precision of a scorpion's tail. "If we didn't have this waste of space in our squad, we might've had room for someone who was actually competent! Hiro is just some useless battery that gets sucked up by pistils, he has no talent at all!" Hiro's eyes closed and he took the brunt of Mitsuru's verbal assault, the words bouncing off of his trained and battle-hardened social bubble that he'd fortified for a lifetime. Mitsuru said nothing Hiro didn't already know. His words were just rocks bouncing off the frigid, metal sheets of Hiro's heart. Goro took another aggravated step towards Mitsuru, causing Futoshi to rise to his feet in tears and hold the blonde haired boy back from beating Mitsuru into a pulp.

Ikuno clenched her fists at her sides and bit her tongue, blood swelling up beneath her teeth before she wrenched her mouth open finally, "Mitsuru stop, you're just making things worse!" Miku joined Ikuno, raising her voice to Mitsuru, "They did everything they could! Stop trying to blame them!" Goro stopped struggling against Futoshi and went limp into his shoulder, the sad truth behind Miku's words striking him like a bat. It was true. That was everything he could muster. All he could manage. And it wasn't even close to enough. Maybe. Maybe Mitsuru was right?

"Everything they could?" Mitsuru's eyes flashed menacingly, "if that's everything they've got then we'll all be dead by the end of the month!" he laughed in disbelief at his teammates, "Unless we keep counting on that monster bitch to save us, despicable demon." Hiro's bubble was punctured instantly and his heart was staked by Mitsuru's words. His hands balled into fists and he rose his tumultuous, azure eyes to Mitsuru. He'd wheel over there and savagely beat him into submission, with his own two, brittle arms. Sadly. Hiro would never have the chance. Quick steps sounded out against the planks of the floor, an aggressive stride closing the distance between a newcomer who'd entered the room and Mitsuru in a few gaits. A loud crack sounded out as a pale skinned hand struck Mitsuru's cheek violently, his whole head whipping to the side, the bandage unraveling from his head and falling to the ground. All heads rose and all eyes were directed to one person. Innumerable bandages were wrapped over her once dainty arms and legs. Short blue hair flowed peacefully down to shaking shoulders. Her hand remained stretched out from where she had hit Mitsuru, her eyes locked onto Mitsuru's confused irises in absolute fury. Mitsuru turned his head slowly, his nerves on fire in pain from the slap. His eyes opened tenfold and the rest of the squad's followed suit. For the first time, they saw the gruesome scar running along the right side of Ichigo's face, partly concealed beneath her long bangs.

"Shut your mouth Mitsuru" she spoke with unusual fervor. Mitsuru froze like a spanked child, not used to Ichigo's rage induced tone. Jaws dropped, tears fell, and as always, infinitely more questions were formulated.

/

Hours had passed. Ichigo was standing before a tall mirror in her bedroom. She'd unraveled the countless gauzes that she'd been practically mummified with. Long piles of bandages rose around her tiny feet, just above where her thin toes pressed into the carpet. Ichigo didn't know how to react. It was like she was never hard wired to comprehend the horror reflected back at her in the glass. Burn marks ran across almost all of her limbs, her arms and legs warped and singed. The only still vivacious portions of skin remaining was the left side of her face, torso, and her left leg. Her mind was blank. She studied her reflection emotionlessly. The girl in the mirror before her had empty, emerald eyes. The purple skin couched the gem of her iris like a jewel wrapped in sheets of velvet. She ran a dry hand across her flaky skin, the rough complexion indescribably warm to the touch. Two knocks on her door made her snap her head back to attention, her mind still alert from the previous day's ordeals.

"Ichigo?" a low voice inquired from beyond the door frame. Ichigo saw how her reflection lit up in delight at hearing her favorite voice. He'd never sought her out in her room before. She skipped over to the door and opened it in one swift motion, eager to see the person on the other side. Hiro was met with the bare naked body of Ichigo before him. He choked as he sucked in too much air at once and his eyes shot to the back of his head, making him rocket back in his chair. He couldn't move though. Miles of scarred skin marred her body and he couldn't, no matter how hard he tried, remove his eyes from the naked girl before him. The shallow plane of her toned stomach looked as smooth as petals. Her nimble frame held all her assets with pride, but Hiro couldn't pry his eyes from the burns. Curious as to what caused his reaction, she looked around outside the doorway, searching for the source of shock. She turned about confused for a dozen or so seconds before her arm brushed against the wood of the door frame. Ah cold. Her bare skin was cold against the wood. Oh. Realization hit her like a bus and she screamed in terror as she slammed the door shut on Hiro, the wooden panel stopping inches from his nose. Attempting to get a grip, he shook his head and reminded himself why he'd come here in the first place. Leaning forwards so that his forehead was pressed against the thick wood, he listened for sound on the other side. Audible gasps were discernible from Hiro's search for life signs beyond the bedroom's gate.

"Wha-, what! What did you want? Hiro!" Ichigo's panicked voice called out through the door.

Hiro smirked against the planks, "Just to check in with you." Ichigo blushed at the rarity of the situation. Hiro willingly checking up on someone. Her unreciprocated affection was finally being repaid by the banks of fate. Shuffling could be heard in the room as Ichigo hastily threw on a thin nightgown, the bland, beige fabric concealing the majority of her injuries. Seconds later the door clicked and opened again, albeit at a much more careful pace this time. Hiro eventually wheeled into the room, the chilling nocturnal breeze flowing in from an open window refreshing his embarrassed features like a bucket of freezing water. Bathed in moonlight, lunar raiments of light enveloping her like a gown, Ichigo turned face Hiro from her position at her bedside. Parsing his lips and avoiding eye contact, Hiro rolled further into the chamber. "So… how are you feeling?" he questioned awkwardly, exuding none of the confidence he had when he was around Zero Two.

"Fine. I'm ok" she answered rapidly, her shoulders squeezed together in unsureness. Hiro smiled at her body's physical earnesty, her damaged limb's shaking not leaving many questions in her comrade's minds. This was the first time they'd talked since piloting.

"Ichigo" Hiro started, his voice causing her to eep in surprise.

"Yes?" she responded meekly, eyes looking for anything other than his eyes to latch onto.

"Can you tell me what it was like? To fly with me?" he asked her honestly, his eyes unsure. Ichigo calmed down smiled warmly at his request, thankful for the topic shift. She tried to the best of her ability to articulate the experience to Hiro.

"It was like a switch in me was turned on. Something within me just triggered and flooded my body with power. It's like I was being shocked constantly, like my blood was boiling" she recalled intuitively. "But," she added solemnly, "I couldn't control it. Not matter how hard I tried I couldn't harness the power you put into me." Hiro's eyes finally darted to hers in concern.

"Zero Two could control it perfectly though" he thought out loud, picturing her unique horns and brainstorming the cause of her ability to maintain control of the mech during the special rampage. Ichigo's eyes flick away from his once again at the mention of the red-horned girl.

"Have you heard anything about her?" she asked hesitantly, bringing her hand up to fiddle with her hair clip. Hiro leaned into his chair, resting his armpit on the top of the back rest and setting his head into the crevice of his elbow, looking off to the side of his seat wistfully.

"No" he responded with a single dread infused word, his brows sinking. Ichigo recognized the pain in his voice and cringed, lowering her hand from her hair to stroke her arm rhythmically. "I don't know what to do Ichigo" he relented as he buried his face deeper into the crook of his arm. Watching his inner turmoil put her in pain as well, her hurt eyes studying his hunched form. "How do you do it Ichigo? How did you get so good on putting that smile on?" he brought his eyes over the edge of his arm, looking for a response. A smile was still present on her face, but the warmth it released banished the doubts of its genuineness. Turning her gaze to the night sky beyond the window, Ichigo replied casually, as if the answer was the most obvious thing in the universe, "It's just as you said, Hiro. All we can do is struggle. Grit our teeth and persevere. That's all we can ever really do, isn't it." His eyes narrowed at the irony of his own words being directed back at him, and raising his head he sighed a final time. He'd get her back.

/

A small splash of water erupted beneath Zero Two's feet as she landed. Her bare feet pressed against something akin to a glass pane below, a shallow ocean of clear liquid covering it as far as the eye could see. The perfectly reflective surface stretched out infinitely in every direction, the only color in otherwise drowned out purgatory being Zero Two herself. The small ripples from where she landed continued to grow in size, expanding radially about her in an ever growing fashion, until the miniature waves dissipated in the distance. Absolute silence. The taciturn universe watched her from everywhere and held its breath, releasing no gentle breeze across her alabaster void. The pink of her hair refracted in the water and a streak of rose stretched out for seemingly miles. She blinked. A sound of splashing from behind her. She pivoted and about faced to the commotion in the sanctuary. Seated before her, Hiro looked at her with the warmth of summer in his cerulean eyes. His smile magnetized her to his position, pulling her in with its comforting radiance.

"Darling" she let slip the single word. A cloud of red smoke emerged from her lips and expanded before her. The crimson haze consumed the air around her and spread far into the sky above. Questioning the verisimilitude of her situation, she stopped her examination of the clouds and turned back to Hiro. His eyes were now a solid black, irises beady white dots within his shadowy pupils. He stood from his chair and walked over to her, his steps elegant and confident. He swept her off of her feet and brought her eyes to his,faces only inches apart.

"I love you" he whispered to her. As soon as the words had left his mouth the rosy clouds enveloping the world all morphed into a downpour of rain. Blood red rain. Each droplet that struck his skin steamed and sizzled, burning away some of his figure before her very eyes. Her turquoise irises exploded in terror and she tried to reach out to Hiro. Her hands refused her heart's command. Piece by piece, her darling withered away, eventually falling to his knees from his legs being melted away. His pitch black eyes dug craters into Zero Two as he dropped her into the red swirling pool below, no longer having arms to carry her with. And he was gone. Alone and sitting in a vermillion sea, she arched her back and faced to the sky. Blood slid slickly across her moist skin, leaving strokes of sanguine waterfalls across her cheeks. Her bangs were slicked back against her head, heavily soaked through. She cried out, a harpy in an abyss. And blinked. And woke up.

Zero Two shot up in a cold sweat, gagging. She rolled over repeatedly in anguish, her whole body on fire. She smashed her fists into the concrete floor beneath her repeatedly, cracking small shards from the stones below. The bones of her hand snapped and crunched as she repeatedly crushed it into the surrounding walls and floor. Her mouth opened in agony and a steaming, red liquid spewed out of her. Excess liquid dribbled from her lips and she cried out in pain as the chemical burned her skin in a line from where it had slithered down her face. Turning to where the discharge had landed, the wall had melted in spots where the spray had landed. Her eyes widened in horror and she fiercely shut her jaws, clamping her hands over her mouth as she felt another surge rising within her. She cried out behind her hands and tears began to flow down her face. The acidic liquid burnt lines across the planes of her visage, and all she could do was scream.

(AN - trying to use lots of symbolism and dialogue to build my characters a bit more, think it's kinda working or something, eh. no worries boys hiro two will be back and boolin in no time, or willllllllllllll theyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy)


	8. Chapter 8

Sirens suddenly wailed, alerts flaring up over a screen.

"Of course they'd come now."

A slackened hand is dragged across the man's weary features

"We have to call for help, we have no choice."

With a deep sigh, he continued to pull his hand across his face and over his shaved head down to nape of his neck.

"And will you tell them?"

Breath hitched and a red-haired girl slightly flinched.

"Of course."

Eyes narrowed thinly, doubt emerging.

"It was a fluke. Trust me, it won't happen again."

Shaking his head slowly, he nodded in affirmation.

/

Eight sets of feet and two wheels moved rapidly through the halls of Plantation 13. The sound of their footsteps was drowned out by the cacophonous volume of alarms ringing throughout every inch of the dome. Rounding corners, scaling ramps, and panting heavily, the members of Squad 13 burst through the doorway of the strategy room in a frenzy. Goro and Ichigo immediately sprinted over to the consoles at the head of the room and toggled the cameras that lined the exterior of Cerasus to be on. A multitude of holographic screens whirred into existence around the duo.

On the displays, a orange horizon was littered with silhouettes of varying animalistic geometry. The waning sun fell to the earth just beyond a horde of approaching klaxosaurs. Thousands of hermit-crab like klaxosaurs, similar to the ones who'd been in the mine, stampeded across the valley towards the plantation, kicking up a tsunami of dirt in their wake. Erupting behind the army of molten monsters, a massive beast emerged into view. Three serpentlike heads writhed about the top of a trio of long tendrils. The basilisk like creature's heads sprouted from a torso akin to a lions, massive fissures of rock shifting as if they were flexing muscles. A shrill cry echoed through the speakers and the squad members were visibly intimidated. Hiro finally rolled into the room, having caught up with his peers. He arrived just in time to see a steel drop ship glide into view and open its bay doors. His eyes widened as a scathed and burned Strelitzia fell from the opened hatch. The Franxx touched down in stampede mode about a mile in front of the oncoming surge of klaxosaurs, placing itself between the plantation and the threat. As the air cleared from the impact, the mech reared its head and let out a lamenting howl of fury, fire shooting up around in in columns from its exposed engines. Breaking into a dead sprint, it crossed ground in split seconds before heaving itself into the tumultuous, molten blue sea beneath it, throwing up klaxosaur after klaxosaur in visceral fashion. Sprays of blue blood and a fountain of fire joined the scene developing on the horizon.

"Zero Two…" Hiro broke the silence. Biting his lip, he steeled himself. This was the chance he was waiting for. "I have to see her, I have to go to her!" he declared aloud to nobody in particular. Miku looked back at him incredulously alongside Zorome's unsure gaze. Futoshi frowned and Ikuno shook her head, hearing the fervor in Hiro's voice and knowing there wasn't a chance in hell they'd persuade him against his volition. Ichigo and Goro made steady eye contact with Hiro, searching his irises so as ascertain how serious he was. Mitsuru casted his eyes to feet and leaned against a console. Kokoro sat cross legged on the amphitheater's seats, her face pensive and worried. Ichigo strode over to Hiro and placed her arm on his shoulder, looking at him directly. Seeing not even a single droplet of doubt in his countenance made her mind up for her.

"Ok, Hiro," she smiled warmly, "I'll get you to her." Her words rang out like an oath and Ichigo considered them such, promising herself she'd bring the one she loved to the one he himself did.

"But all the Franxx are still being repaired, how are you going to go out there?" Miku's unsure voice interjected.

"Not to mention the klaxosaurs! They'd rip us to shreds if we went out there, you saw what happened last time!" Zorome's wavering words added to Miku's appeal.

Hiro frowned at this reality check and ran his hand through his hair, trying to think of a strategy. Goro jabbed his hands into his pockets and rolled his head back onto his shoulders, staring at the ceiling in thought. A horrible cry of pain from Strelitzia caused Hiro to curse his mental lethargy.

"The training mechs" a cold voice from the corner of the room sounded. Hiro turned his head to the source of the sound only to see Mitsuru, his unkempt strands of brown hair veiling his eyes. The training mechs? The pill-headed and miniatures sized mechs? There were always three of them sat in the docking bay at all times. It could be done, Hiro realized with a start.

"Huh! That'd be suicide!" Miku tried to shut down the train of thought before it could even depart the station.

"No, it's possible" Mitsuru's calculated voice parried Miku's in a form of verbal riposte.

"But there's only three of them," Hiro added to the argument, his eyes searching his comrades', "and I can't pilot them."

"I'll take you, no one else needs to put themselves in danger" Ichigo declared confidently, clenching a fist to her side, the burnt skin of her knuckles stretching.

"Hell with that!" Goro jumped back into the conversation. "I won't let you do that alone Ichigo!" he swore aloud. "You don't even know how to use the controls!" he tried to strengthen his position. Ichigo's eyes softened at the passion in Goro's statement but tightened her fist as she reinforced her resolve.

"For just one or two training mechs to go out there would be too dangerous!" Kokoro cried from her seated position, finally having enough of the conversation unfolding around her.

"I'll go" the words froze the argument in a hail of ice. All eyes turned to the speaker and all brains double checked if they heard the boy right. Mitsuru pushed off of the wall and stood broad chested before the squad, "I'll do it." Ikuno's face was completely awestruck at the atypical willingness on display before her and she could do nothing but stare.

"But… why?" Hiro questioned, the prior, scathing argument still fresh in his mind.

"Oh can it, it's my plan anyways. Of course I'd be the one to carry it out" his eyes avoided Hiro's as he spoke the untrue words. Hiro grinned and shook his head. What an idiot.

"Ok," he inhaled a deep, empowering breath and conjured an image of his goal in his mind, pink hair charging him with confidence, "Let's do this then!"

/

Tears struck the console and rolled down the expanse of the dark metal. The sounds of the battle they monitored silenced all other audible things in the room. A pair of eyes noticed the droplets of salty water finally and snapped to their source.

"Nana?" Hachi questioned her loudly.

The red-head pawed her face in panic, trying to wipe away the tears violently.

"Damnit! DAMNIT! NO!" she slammed a fist into the steel counter before her, tears flowing freely across her face. With a cry not dissimilar to a banshees, she bashed her forehead against the desk over and over again. Hachi rose to his feet and wrapped her up, pulling her now bleeding form away from the displays.

"Nana! Stop! Calm down!" he tried to snap her out of her crazed state.

"Please don't take me back! I'll be a good girl please!" she shrieked pulling her hair with all her might, strands of long crimson being pulled away on her fingers. Hachi sneered in remorse for what he about to do and put Nana into a headlock. Struggling against his muscular forearms, Nana writhed beneath his clutch, smacking and clobbering him with messy blows. Dozens of seconds later, she collapsed into him, unconscious body falling limp.

Hachi shook his head and wrapped his arms around her in a warm embrace, his eyes clouding in pain, "Tch. You always were too soft."

/

A large door rose up and the innards of the docking bay were revealed. Three training bots rolled out of the aperture, treads spinning quickly against the concrete until the ground changed to dirt and sand below them. Mitsuru and Goro gripped onto the steel paddles that came alongside the mechs, ready to defend the package they were delivering with all their might.

"Let's do it!" Hiro called out from the hands of Ichigo's training bot.

"Ok, watch my back Mitsuru, Goro. We need to get him Strelitzia!" Ichigo called out from within her small cockpit.

"And then what?" Mitsuru's voice rang out over the intercom. Hiro faltered only for a second, before answering.

"If she sees me, she'll come to me! I know she will" he shouted to his comrades.

"Of course she will," Mitsuru shook his head within his bot, "I still think someone else should carry Hiro though! Ichigo's not used to the controls."

"No. This is easiest job, I won't be able to defend myself while holding Hiro. Protecting us will be much harder than driving in a straight line!" Ichigo declined the idea over the comms.

"Enough! Here they come!" Goro disrupted their argument as the horde came within a hundred meters of them. The familiar crab like klaxosaurs were only a couple feet taller than a training bot, but they would almost assuredly weigh much more than the thin frames the three were operating. Ducking into a delta formation with Ichigo at the front, the three pilots evaded the brunt of the charge by wheeling to the left, trying to circumvent the horde. The treads of their mechs kicked up clouds of dust in their path. The dusk sun beat down of them in rays of gaseous magma. Sweat already drenched the four daring teens as they engaged.

"Goro, right!" Mitsuru called out to his ally.

"Yah! I got him!" Goro responded as he flourished his paddle, striking an airborne klaxosaur out of the air, the blow digging into its side and launching it back into the teeming mass chasing them. Ichigo weaved around a klaxosaur that had jumped in her path only for Mitsuru to appear behind her and clobber the monster diagonally, making it slide away on the ground, leaving a streak of shattered earth in its wake.

"Keep moving!" Ichigo reiterated to her team. In the distance, blue blood sprayed into the sky like fireworks, Strelitzia tearing across the horde like a lawnmower to fresh grass. The basilisk behemoth roared as it engaged the feline mech. Strelitzia responded in part with its own howl as it leapt into the titanic scale combat. Air visibly streamlined around the massive limbs of the beasts as they stabbed and swung at each other. Strelitzia pounced upon one of the necks and wrenched its teeth into the rocklike flesh, blue-blood exploding forth from the wound. Screeching in pain, another head of the klaxosaur slithered into action. The jaws of a snake like head tried to consume the mech whole, but ended up wrapping its teeth around just the left haunch of the Franxx. Attempting to tug Strelitzia off of one of its necks, the creature jerked. The sudden force caused Strelitzia's teeth to completely burst through the klaxosaur's neck it had been clamped onto, decapitating one of the three heads in a burst of azure gore. The klaxosaur wailed as it catapulted the Franxx away from its body. The mech tumbled and skidded for thousands of feet before stopping in a heap. Fire erupted forth from the boosters lining the lion-like mech again as it rolled back to its feet. A slight limp in the leg that had been bitten barely slowed the dervish down as it whirled back into the horde, tail and tooth ripping and shredding. The mech ran three klaxosaurs through with its tail and swung them in a semi-circle, their corpses sliding off of the tail and being launched like projectiles. Strelitzia sprinted after the organic cannon balls and used their impact to break through into the middle of a pack of about twenty more klaxosaurs. With a dozen cleaves of its claws, Strelitzia turned the monsters to ribbons, their blood coating the Franxx in a fresh coat of blue paint. An overly ambitious klaxosaur strayed too close to the rampaging demon and was punished by a swift chomp of Strelitzia's jaws, the magma-infused teeth puncturing through the obsidian flesh like daggers flowing through honey. With a spin the klaxosaur is freed from the teeth and dozens more are felled with a sweep of Strelitzia's tail. Beyond the carnage, the trio from Squad 13 approached rapidly to their target with package in hand, their treads eating the dirt and launching them forward at high speeds.

"Ichigo look out!" Goro warned her with a shout. Turning her mechs head upwards, she made out a klaxosaur falling onto her just as it was meters from her cockpit's exterior. Goro gritted his teeth and growled in effort as he catapulted into the side of the beast. Blue innards sprayed all over the front of Ichigo's mech and shards of black rock clipped into her frame. Goro tumbled with the klaxosaur to a halt some hundred feet to their side.

"Goro! No!" Ichigo screamed in realization of his sacrifice, turning her minorly damaged mech. The horde of klaxosaurs closed in on him rapidly as he wrestled with the klaxosaur he'd saved Ichigo from.

"Come on you bastard!" he challenged over the radio, grappling with the pincers of the beast. Metal wrenched as his mech was overpowered. His grip on the sharp incisors faulted and the klaxosaur ripped into his mechs right arm, severing the metal limb in a blast of smoke and bolts.

Hiro outstretched a hand from his helpless position as he watched his friend be consumed before him, "GORO!" A shout of effort rang out over the comms as Mitsuru turned his mech around and charged to Goro's aid.

"Ah! Always slowing us down, huh! This is way too lame a way to die, stop messing around!" he screamed as he ran his paddle into the klaxosaur's side with all his power. The metal head of the staff snapped off upon contact and the creature rolled off of Goro's mech. Wielding the now sharp end of his paddle like a spear he impaled the klaxosaur with a final cry of aggression, running the beast through in a single movement. Panting heavily Mitsuru turned to Goro's mech and uprighted it as quickly as he could. "Let's go already, shitty leader!" he called out in a unsteady voice, his voice cracking as he inhaled and exhaled rapidly. With a huge smile on his face and fire in his eyes, Goro spurred his mech to move again, the treads spinning into life as he moved out alongside Mitsuru. They were closing in on the main stage of the battle, the massive duel now within a mile of them. The trio weaved and dodged countless klaxosaurs as they neared their goal with absolute grit. A shadow spread out around their mechs and they casted their eyes to the sky to see a gigantic, severed snake head heading directly towards them.

Diving to the sides, they narrowly evaded the massive impact of the dislodged appendage striking the earth. A hurricane of debris rose up around them as they continued with their momentum towards their goal, nearing the finish line. They blew out of the cloud and dust grabbed onto their mechs, being pulled along by their velocity and streaming around them. The majority of the klaxosaurs were now behind the members of Squad 13, for some reason focused on chasing them. This meant that only the now single-headed basilisk klaxosaur and Strelitzia were in front of them. Blazing across the desert and circling the fight, they tried to get as close as they could without being directly in the thick of the fight. With a shrill howl, the snake-klaxosaur whipped Strelitzia away with its neck into the air. Targeting the airborne mech, a ball of blue lightning appeared in its mouth. A beam of arced lightning shot from the jaws of the klaxosaur and collided with the Franxx in a deafening blast. Strelitzia was blown further away, careening far into the air, and much to the luck of Squad 13, landed in the trios path.

"Hiro! If you had a plan, this is a insanely lucky time to use it!" Ichigo called out. The squaddies quickly closed in on the crater that Strelitzia had landed in and wheeled to the front of the mech, parking before its huge head. Holding Hiro up like an idol before their god, the three bit their tongues in terror as hundreds of klaxosaurs leaped over the cusp of the crater and blacked out the sky.

"Zero Two!" Hiro cried out with all the bottled rage he'd had for days, his uselessness and inability to do anything for those around him being funneled into every syllable of the words he spoke. "Come back to me, please!" he shouted, tears flowing down his face. His heart bled audibly through the conduit of his tongue, his deepest desires to be reunited with the one he loved shooting out of him like a star beneath the shadows of the thousands of klaxosaurs descending upon them. In the face of death, only thoughts involving pink hair and turquoise eyes filled his mind. The world could wait. "Please" he whispered, falling limply against the arm of the mech that he was held by. "Please come back to me."

/

Zero Two had been trying with everything she had to break free from her constraints for the past week. But seeing her love, her darling before her, pouring out his soul in the face of impending slaughter, pushed her beyond her best. She snarled, veins of red sprouting from her eyes, bulging beneath the skin of her face and glowing. Acid slipped from her lips and burned her mouth and the floor beneath her. Her horn and stump shined a glorious shade of crimson. The chains binding her to her seat whined from the pressure she'd exerted on them for a week, finally giving into her raw determination. Snapping free from her constraints she rose up in her seat. The stamen behind her had been dead for minutes now. The cockpit around her was covered in every inch by scratch marks and charred scars from acid. She felt the horde of klaxosaurs closing in on her and her darling, gravity pulling them to down upon them like meteors. She heard the klaxosaurs in her head, drumming like cannons in her ears. She halted her panting with a long exhale, the breath drawing out for what seemed like an infinity. She'd defend him this time. And always.

/

Hiro casted a final gaze upon Strelitzia as the klaxosaurs began to land around him. He swore he could hear Mitsuru and Goro scream as they were overran. He swore he could hear Ichigo crying alone in her cockpit. And he swore that Strelitzia was just in front of him. But. It wasn't. Like someone had taken a marker and draw a white line across his vision, a slash, so fast it blew air into hemispheres about him, ripped through the world. A thunderous crack deafened his ears, leaving them ringing. The klaxosaurs fell around him in halves, like the sky was leaking corpses. The final head of the basilisk, slit at the base of its neck, slid down the side of the crater to a halt near Ichigo's mech. No blue blood burst from the eviscerated bodies, they merely fell to the earth and calmly leaked pools of cerulean upon landing. The strikes were so true and clean that it was like time had been frozen while each klaxosaur was dissected in precise fashion.

Strelitzia blinked back into view before Hiro, the mech kneeling it's head before Hiro. The training bots of Squad 13 sat alone with the cat-like reaper in a lake of blue blood and limbs. The small mechs, never designed for actual combat, were rendered immobile from overuse. The sun was barely visible on the horizon above the precipice of the hollow, like it was peeking its eyes around a doorway to witness the events unfolding. Four pairs of eyes stared at the hatch of Strelitzia as it opened slowly, hydraulics grumbling as the face plate folded down. Hiro reached a hand out and tried to straighten himself in Ichigo's machine's battered, metal arm.

His breath hitched and he whimpered at what he saw next. Suit ripped into parcels, covered in blood and burns, and pink hair flowing around her like the wreath of an angel, Zero Two limped out of the mech onto the platform of the opened door. Her body heaved with each breath and her head was tilted to the left, a single horn at least two feet in length weighing her neck down. She collapsed to the floor, the sound of her knees striking the metal the only sound in the crater that had become a graveyard. As she closed her eyes and fell to her side, Hiro swore he could see a smile bless her sacred lips. It was over. He'd made it back to her against all odds. It was like he was in a dream. She was right there. Just meters away from his outstretched hand, laying there like a goddess dozing on clouds. His dream became a nightmare in the blink of an eye. The fog of dust and dirt encompassing the crater blown away by the twin rotors of a drop ship descending into the pit.

"No."

The hatch of the ship opened and darts shot out, grappling onto the frame of Strelitzia.

"You're kidding right? Let me wake up now."

The ropes pulled taut as the engines of the drop ship roared to full capacity.

"Come on, please. Any second I'll open my eyes and see her inches from my face. Her scent will be everywhere and her touch will be anywhere I seek it."

The earth released the mech and it became airborne, wobbling side to side slightly as it rose.

"No. Come on. Stop messing around."

He could already feel the sheets of his bed wrapping around them both, protecting them from the dawn's pestering light. He could feel her laughter burning his skin, her breath dancing across his cheeks like embers.

The dropship ascended with Strelitzia in tow and flew off into the somber clouds littering the now nocturnal sky.

"Just. Let me wake up already. From this damn nightmare."

(AN - rip xxx)


	9. Chapter 9

These scars long have yearned for your tender caress  
To bind our fortunes, damn what the stars own  
Rend my heart open, then your love profess  
A winding, weaving fate to which we both atone

The wolf I will follow into the storm  
To find your heart, its passion displaced  
By ire ever growing hardening into stone  
Amidst the cold to hold you in a heated embrace

I know not if fate would have us live as one  
Or if by love's blind chance we've been bound

 _-Priscilla's Song from the Witcher 3_

/

"Oi, oi, oi!" a hysterical voice rang through the boarding house foyer. "A good master of a house always greets his guests!" the voice continued in the same condescending fashion, the loud words echoing throughout the wooden corridors of the building. Ichigo and Goro peaked their heads out from the entrance of the mess hall where the squad was in the middle of a meal. The condition of the squad's leaders left much to be desired, their skin covered in bruises and bandages on most of their surfaces. Chairs could be heard squeaking in the room behind them as the other members of Squad 13 rose to their feet wearily. Ichigo and Goro slowly walked over to meet the strange group of individuals that had so belligerently interrupted their dinner. Mitsuru rounded the corner after them, limping towards the duo with a cast beneath his right shoulder. "That's more like it! Leave it to dogs to not do tricks until their masters command them to!" a blonde boy ridiculed the inhabitants of the house, bolstered by the sneers and giggles of his comrades.

"Who are you?" Ichigo questioned him harshly, her voice sharp and immediately killing the humor in the boy's face with the speed of a gunshot. Her eyes were narrowed and her body was hunched slightly, hand clutched onto her ribs, applying pressure to a fracture she'd suffered from her adventure the day prior.

"Huh?" the group's apparent leader's face shriveled in disgust at the girl before him. His eyes surveyed her with the discretion of a cement roller, his pupils examining her from top to bottom with antagonizing pressure. "Pft" he made a sound as his eyes landed on her burnt skin. The leathery epidermis that covered the majority of Ichigo's body peaked out from her cuff and collar, looking slightly less out of place among the mountains of gauze on the rest of her body. "Sorry, I must have confused your guys' burnt steak dinner with someone else. We're here looking for Squad 13, do you know where they might be Beef Girl?" he leaned in with every word, not afraid to get right into Ichigo's personal space and spit the words at her. Ichigo's eyes flashed in hurt for a second and she averted her eyes to the floor, pressing her hand more firmly to her side as she became a dozen times more conscious of her malformed condition. Goro thrusted himself between the two with a snarl and pushed the blonde boy back into the arms of his teammates.

"Shut your damn mouth you brat" Goro shouted as he continued to throttle the small frame of the aggressive boy away from Ichigo, only to stop his assault when Mitsuru's hand clasped his shoulder.

"Ho ho, look out guys, the chef doesn't like us messing with his food!" the boy giggled as he bounced back into the opened arms of a short, green-haired girl.

"What do you want?" Mitsuru's frigid voice immediately silenced the intruder's antics again, his cold eyes meeting them fearlessly. Shaking his head and halting his laughter, the blonde boy dusted his shirt off and drew himself to his full height before the trio from Squad 13. The rest of Mitsuru's team, excluding a certain raven-haired boy, had all filed out into the foyer behind him, questioning eyes digging at every inch of the strange people who'd entered their home.

"We thought an introduction was in order" a boy with medium length, blue hair stepped forwards from the formation, his long bangs only revealing one of his snake-like irises. The blonde haired boy stepped around him, lightly pushing him out of the way to make his way back the front.

"Were the 9s, a better version of you guys" he snickered, chin rising upwards in arrogance. Zorome had a confused look on his face as he tried to make sense of the foreign presence in the room, but he knew for sure that they were picking a fight, and for that reason he stayed alert, subconsciously stepping in front of the girls. Futoshi's round eyes widened at the hateful words spoken, twiddling his thumbs standing at the base of the stairs. Kokoro's hands were wrapped together as she hid behind the backs of her teammates, not wishing to draw any slander towards herself from the aggressive antagonists in the room. Ikuno's hands were clenched into fists and her eyes were shooting lasers into the green orbs of the snobby 9s member who'd insulted them. Miku bit her lip in anger, her temper flaring at the attitude of the transgressors.

"And? You still haven't answered my question." Mitsuru continued coolly, refusing to give any response to the histrionics of the team before him. Eyes glazing over in indignation at being ignored so swiftly, the blonde boy continued on his tangent.

Trying hard to hide the surprise on his features, the boy replied in a more calm voice, "We were sent here to defend Plantation 13 since you kids can't do it yourself." Mitsuru's eyes opened in realization and he shifted on his feet, reevaluating the presence of the 9s. "Where's the vegetable at? I've heard lots of things about the black-haired cripple boy who was Cerasus' only hope. Why isn't he here with the rest of you snivelling babies?" Alpha asked, visoring his eyes with his right hand as he childishly surveyed the room on his tippy toes. Ichigo stifled a sniffle and shook once more with anger at Alpha's insults.

"Don't call him that" she whispered venomously, her words barely audible but still cacophonous to all who heard them.

"Ah," a green haired girl raised her voice for the first time since entering the room, "the walking skid mark is back." At this quip, Alpha folded over onto his knees in a fit of laughter, his mad cackling giving off an disturbing air of madness that unsettled most of the teenage tenants of the hall. Goro took particular exception to his reaction and brushed out of Mitsuru's hold, rearing his fist back behind his head. With a growl of spite he lunged towards the blonde haired harlequin. His fist was snatched promptly out of the air. Following the arm of the obstacle he'd encountered, Goro's eyes met those of a tall, magenta-haired boy who'd stepped forward with a grin on his face.

"Tsk tsk, so rude y'know" the boy commented calmly as he tightened his hold on Goro's clenched hand. A single crack followed by a quadruplet of snaps after shot throughout the room as Goro cried in agony, falling to a knee as he pulled on his right arm as hard as he could to free himself, failing to muster any comparable strength amid his suffering.

"Leave him alone!" Miku sounded out from the back of the group, pushing her way past Zorome with a purposeful gait. Upon hearing the comments from the rear of the group, the short, green-haired girl leaned forwards, straining to see who had said the words with a predatory smile.

Upon seeing the owner of the voice, she smirked, beginning to open her mouth, "Here com-"

"Don't try me bitch" Miku interrupted her abruptly, shutting down her sentence like she'd dropped a brick wall in front of the speeding, immature mind of the girl in front of her. The green-haired girl quickly stripped a stupefied look from her face and stared at Miku with fire in her eyes. The air between their eyes could be seen cackling with fire and sparks as they locked eyes.

"Delta, Gamma" a purple-haired boy called out levelly, coaxing his teammates back to the group. The girl clothed in an golden emblazoned and white fabric uniform ducked out of her visual engagement with Miku and skipped to the back to the group near three masked girls who were perfectly identical in appearance. The boy who'd been revealed to be Gamma, smiled a toothy grin at Goro as he unwrapped his fingers one by one from Goro's shriveled and broken hand, proceeding to then take a step backwards towards the doorway.

Gamma opened his mouth into a toothy grin and gave out some withdrawing remarks as he slid back to the group, "You'd better not tease them Alpha, tell them all of the news." Alpha casted his gaze around the open wooden room a final time in a fleeting glance.

"Mm, it's too bad we didn't get to see the pathetic ringleader of this drivel. I guess we'll just have to come back later" Alpha remarked in a disappointed voice as he paced to a nearby wooden support in the wall, running his pointer finger across its surface. He examined his digit and frowned at the dust that rubbed off onto the white material of the glove he'd used. Rolling his neck back onto his shoulders, he threw his leering gaze back at the members of Squad 13, his long, blonde locks partly shrouding his eyes. "We look forward to working with you" he smiled again, rows of polished white teeth flashing within his mouth alongside his carnivorous words. With that remark, the members of the 9s all filed out of the boarding hall one by one, each waving a goodbye as they stepped out of the doorway, the sun behind them casting their long shadows so far that they almost reached the feet of the children deep within the building. Ichigo collapsed to her knees and trained her eyes on the palms of her hands, bringing them closer to her eyes. One eye saw smooth, white skin and the other saw a sea of darkness. She whimpered as her hands began to shake before her eyes, her ability to retain her composure completely shattered by the comments of Alpha.

Zorome jogged over to Goro's crouched form and patted him on the back, checking on his condition as Futoshi joined them. Miku knelt beside Ichigo, pulling the shivering girl into a tight embrace. Kokoro could do nothing but sit at the base of the stairs, still in shock trying to process the hostility of their new peers. Ikuno ducked out of the room and away into the corridors of the boarding house, not wanting to stay any longer in the war zone that'd once been their foyer. Mitsuru sighed and turned back to the dining hall, shaking his head as he moved to return to his meal. A cloud floated in front of the sun, hiding all the light that had just been shining through the doorway and windows on the facade of the building, and the caws of birds began to stir in the trees.

/

Hiro opened his eyes. A palace of white was before him in all directions. Snow blanketed the floor around him for miles like petals at a royal wedding. Slim, birch trees stood around him like the escorts of a king's promenade. He inhaled clear, cold air, the frigid wind surprising him as it whisked itself up his nose, making him sniffle in discomfort. He exhaled and a cloud of harsh vapor jetted forth from his lips, diffusing into the air about him like a drop of grey paint leaked into a pool of alabaster water. He floated through the forest as if some otherworldly force carried him on a magic carpet. The trees passed by him, their branches still and frozen from the heaps of snow amassing atop their roofs. Icicles dangled from twigs and bark like the jewelry, light refracting into glistening beams as they passed through the untainted shards of water.

The world suddenly stopped moving past him and he fell. The snow crunched beneath his feet and he rose back to his full height. Hiro's eyes shot open in confusion. He looked left, right, up, and finally down. His legs were extended fully and supporting his body. He tested his strength, picking up a foot and placing it down in front of him. The thick layer of snow collapsed in a bite sized chunk beneath his foot. The foreign sensations of contact and balance flooded his mind like an avalanche. He moved another foot forwards. Then another. The snow gave into his will and bowed beneath his feet like servants capitulating before their absolute ruler. He broke into an awkward run. The freezing wind bit the soft skin of his cheeks as it rushed by him. Branches snapped away from trees as he parted the crowd of trees with his outstretched hands. A genuine smile flashed onto his face as he broke into a clearing, collapsing to his knees, the sweat beneath his skin permeating through his uniform's thin fabric and melting the adjacent snow he'd fallen into.

He'd ended up just in front of the large trunk of a tree. The girth of the wood and its solitary position amidst the center of the clearing made it stand out compared to the rest of the wooden persons within the glade. Suddenly, a blunt force crashed into Hiro's back as he was peacefully examining the tree. The force bludgeoned him forwards onto his hands as he shouted in pain, his back igniting in agony. He began to push himself off of his hands and back to his feet but was quickly shut down by a successive blow to his back. He buried his head in the snow and screamed in torment, the ethereal frosting that covered the dirt muffling his shouts like a pillow suffocating a boy woken from his sleep. He tried with his newfound power in his legs, he tried with his weak arms, he tried to roll over in any direction he could, he writhed beneath every blow that collided into his frame, but he was helpless.

The strikes attacked him like the timed tolling of a bell, crashing into him with rhythmic brutality. One. After another. After another. Until he could no longer move, face down in a puddle of mud and melted slush, panting thick clouds of exertion. He closed his eyes and bit his tongue. The pain was unbearable and every nerve in his body shot off on all cylinders nonstop.

A chilling sensation, a thousand times more intense than the tundra about him, pressed into his sweaty cheek. The strange feeling was joined by four more dots of arctic contact. He cracked his eyes to see five, dainty fingers run themselves across his face. It was like the beads of sweat on his face were crystallizing due to their vicinity to the algid vortex of the finger's caress. The appendages wrapped his face in their cooling kisses, blowing across his visage like a tidal wave of compassion. The pointer finger and thumb wrapped themselves about his chin like snakes slithering about a goblet of wine, gliding over the angle of his jaw with the care of an angel nursing a child. A force gently prodded his face upwards from his chin, pleading for him to raise his head towards the sky. Hiro craned his neck. The contact of the fingers numbed his senses like a drug, cutting off all connection he had with his nerves save for the ones that would allow him to experience the strokes of the angelic digits. He blinked. He opened his eyes to the white purgatory that was the sky, ignoring the backdrop for what was inches from his face. Two brilliant turquoise irises dripped tears unto him, canvassed by waterfalls of pink locks. A teardrop crashed onto his forehead and melted into his peached skin. The warmth of the droplet sank into his mind like lava running freely across a plane of ice, burning canals of fire in his mind that had been a frozen crypt, thawing the deepest chambers of the ice-encased dungeon. His cerulean orbs blasted open, taking in every detail of the girl crying above him. He had found what he had lost. He tried to not blink, terrified of losing the goddess above him, centimeters from his touch, if he took a single, greedy second to refresh his eyes. He would succumb inevitably. And his fears would come true.

/

"Doctor, you know why we called I presume?" the robed figure asked from behind his eccentric primate mask. The Doctor scratched at his cheek aggressively,as if the remaining skin on his face was irritating him in some way.

"I'm afraid you'll have to remind me" his voice filtered out, his feigned ignorance falling upon deaf ears. The frame of the robed figure before him in a hologram visibly declined in stature, as if annoyance was weighing him down.

"Don't play games with us Doctor. We're cutting you off" the figure paused a brief moment to let his words sink in, his eyes locked onto the agitated face of the scientist. "Henceforth your efforts will be redirected in a different direction that we, the members of council, have deemed a more worthwhile investment of our assets than your profligate expenditures" the monotonous voice continued to drawl out decrees to the Doctor regarding his work, and the senior inventor could do nothing. The robes of the figure rippled as the character shook his head, "We're sending you the details now. This is your last chance Doctor."

"Of course" The Doctor said levelly, his voice not showing any signs of the rage inside of his head. As soon as the comms clicked off, The Doctor turned to the nearby desk and swept all of the items off of it in a single movement. Loud clangs and bangs sounded out across the floor as papers and vials crashed into the metal floor. Chemicals sizzled against the floor and a computer screen flared up with error signs, it's monitor melted from the contact of a concoction that had landed on it. Murmuring in a voice akin to a growl, The Doctor limped over to another computer across the room and checked the files the council had sent him.

"Hmm" he harrumphed as he combed through the folders of schematics and data. His eyes curiously examined the list of chemicals and drugs that he was requested to make. Another box of text noted that he was to use the field assets they'd placed around the subject. His eyes widened as he opened the last file attached to the cache he'd been delivered. A precisely drawn and meticulously measured schematic for some sort of exo suit that somehow was implemented beneath a person's skin. The Doctor put his hands on the counter before him and leaned forwards to put his weight on them, sighing longly and shaking his head. So this was the new direction they spoke of. More folly.

/

Nana was pacing back and forth across the room, her elegant, crimson locks ruffled and frizzled. All ten of her fingernails were bitten to the bare crust from anxiousness, her eyes panicked and flicking around the room. Hachi was sitting in his chair before a single monitor at a oak desk at the head of the room. His hands were folded together and his head rested atop them, eyes closed in wait. The sound of Nana shuffling around the room, the wood creaking beneath her, and her wild whimpers were all too similar to the human ear.

"Nana, it'll just be a day. One day. I can't watch you anymore, you need to get it together now" Hachi's stern voice stopped her steps, the wood groaning as she came to a halt and turned to him with nervous eyes. She nodded her head eventually, her chin pressing into her chest as she finished her gesture of acknowledgement, head twitching every couple seconds. Hachi sighed and dropped his arms down to his sides as he rose to his feet. He strode across the room and as he was passing Nana he paused, casting a backwards glance at her. Studying her closely he noticed her shoulders were shaking, like she was shivering in fear. His right hand twitched but he blinked immediately and shook his head. He finished his withdrawal from the room, the only indication of his exit being the clicking of the door as it snapped back into place.

Nana's head rose like a whip as the house creaked ambiently, her head snapping around to examine every shadow and dark spot in her periphery. She brought an arm to her elbow, holding her arm and wringing her fingers into her skin warily. She pivoted about her heel as the curtains of the open window fluttered into an odd position. Her exhales matched the automatic pumping of her heart that was beating combatively like a war drum. She chattered her upper row of teeth into her bottom lip, the skin peeling and bleeding beneath the pressure of her incisors. A ding suddenly broke her focus on the apparitions she thought she was seeing. Nana yelped in terror at the sudden sound but eventually comprehended that it was just a notification on the computer. She took a cautionary look to her left and right before sprinting over to the desk and checking the message. She tried to calm down as she digested the orders, lethargically running her hands up her sides and neck. Her fingers were taut and straight as her hands glided over her cheeks and covered her eyes, her body hunching over the monitor's screen. With a banshee-like scream she shot her hands up into her hair and pulled on the locks as hard as she could, feeling her scalp burn up in pain.

Her wails subsided eventually and she stood up straight, her shoulders locked to attention. She marched across the room, set on completing her orders as fast as she could. She made her way to a locker in the farthest corner, and after entering a code on a keypad, the metal sheet door slid open. She reached in and cursed as she fumbled with a syringe. She inevitably wrapped her fingers around the small object, withdrawing it from the storage unit in her twitching hands. She used her shoulder to push her way out of the room and sprinted through the halls of the boarding house, her long hair flowing behind her like a wreath of demon fire. She bumped into walls and stumbled many times before reaching her destination.

She thrusted the door open, the hinges squealing from the explosion of force. The door slammed into the wall and banged loudly, the sound frightening Nana more than it should have. She jumped back and the syringe slipped out of her hands, falling onto the floor and rolling away till it came to a rest against the wall of the corridor. Realizing how much noise she was making she turned away from the room and recoiled back into the hall, her back colliding with the wall opposite the door frame. Her head snapped left and right for a couple minutes before she realized the time of day. The children would all be away now, training. Wouldn't they? She shook her head and growled at her indecision. She dropped to her knees and crawled over to the syringe, clasping it roughly in a hand and then rising to her feet swifty, dodging away into the bedroom she'd opened the door too.

Nana menacingly padded over to the bedside, still not analyzing her surroundings, her mind locked onto the possibility of other people being in the house. A scream from below her made her head flick downwards and examine the raven-haired boy before her. Hiro was shifting around wildly, writhing beneath the sheets of his bed, sweat dying the sheets a damp shade of gray. Her eyes softened for a split second and her lips clasped shut, her bleeding lower lip meeting her upper one as she pressed them together into a thin line. The house creaked and the abruptness of the sound snapped her out of her trance. She screamed in fright and clenched the syringe in both hands, thrusting it into the sleeping boys chest, her thumbs pressing onto the plunger firmly. All of the green liquid contained within the vial attached to the needle eventually ran out, now coursing through Hiro's veins. Nana flung the syringe to the side and wrapped her arms about the sleeping boy, pulling him to the edge of his bed. She stood his wheelchair up and unfolded it, placing the drugged boy onto the mechanism and quickly pushing him out of the room. The wheels gave off a continuous, eerie sound as they traveled across the planks of the boarding house's halls.

( AN - never will enjoy writing these slow parts compared to the more emotional stuff, but it adds up in the end so, been spending less time proofreading so I apologize for the errors, and the views and reviews are keeping me interested ty guys ;0, hope my boy boozehound still around somewhere)


	10. Chapter 10

Her skin seemingly divine

I beg fate for its string, us, to entwine

Heavens, if my desire is mere infatuation

If my passion is susceptible to spontaneous condensation

Let my heart be set in stone

And my wishes, to my soul, be shown

Haven't we lost enough already

That destiny owes me some remedy

Compensation for my anguish

And for all my worries, henceforth, to be vanquished

The white intervention of her touch is torture

And kisses can do little to suture

The gashes her words leave on my forearms

And the aphrodisiac that silences my mind's alarms

How the wolf has fallen to red hood's charms

From the great grey mane my heart seeps

Much to the delight of all the eternal sheep

And not a single head will ever weep

For my memory is put to sleep

And my impact no one shall keep

No mark on this world by me was whatsoever deep

In purgatory my existence will remain a heap

And never from its abode shall it creep

Far away in the black and white and grey abyss

Something somewhere from someone will receive a kiss

And maybe a blinded, deaf, and distraught wolf

Will fall away from life's unwanted tryst

And howl into the void

In bliss

/

Loose, buoyant particles of dirt and sand floated across the surface of thousands of blue puddles of liquid. Dust caked the surface layer of the pools and swirled about the air above the fluids. Nearby rocks acted as canals as the substance channeled its way across the earth in weak streams. The cerulean nectar visibly bubbled and popped beneath the arduous sun, waves of tempered heat crashing into its tumultuous surface. Ripples spontaneously appeared in correlation with loud claps in the background. With every bang, a wave would spawn and blow itself radially about the bodies of blue elixir. One such puddle exploded vertically as a titanic, white metal foot slammed into its area. The ground submitted to the unnatural weight and molded around the steel in a massive footprint. The owner of the foot spent no time idling in the wake of the mark he'd created as he continued to sprint past the goop covered landscape.

Alpha of the Nines giggled in pleasure as he twirled and dashed through the air, swinging his spear with the velocity of a helicopter blade. Him and the rest of his team tore a path through a horde of klaxosaurs that were so great in mass that the ground was no longer visible in the gaps between them. Like scythers to a field of wheat, the illustrious mechs of the Nines sheared through klaxosaur after klaxosaur in a display of effortless carnage. Dismembered limbs and tsunamis of bodily, blue ichor flew in every direction. The sun mercilessly nipped at the hot plates of the mechs, trying to punish the transgressors who'd damaged her child earth. Rays of constant fire were channeled into the blood covered ground, uncaring to who their magma touch singed.

The horde of klaxosaurs was briskly decapitated by the adept skills of the Nines, the severed limbs eventually stopping their twitching and the lakes of blood eventually ceasing their ripples. Flourishing his blade, Alpha turned his head to the horizon as all the liquid coating his weapon was flicked to the side, leaving a long streak on the battered dirt adjacent to him. Cresting the horizon like a third orbiting planet, a klaxosaur similar in size to a skyline of mountains approached them. Alpha smiled at the prospect of a challenge and charged towards the new opponent fearlessly, his squad flanking him with the same bravado. They'd never met their match on the badlands, so any chance to actually try during a fight was taken greedily whenever the opportunity arose. Rushing towards the looming mass of sentient, obsidian life, the mechs of the Nines sprinted all out, avarice clouding the minds of the pilots. Nearing the gargantuan klaxosaur, Alpha and his companions squealed in delight as the massive titan unraveled itself. A gigantic tail unsheathed itself from its spine and twirled in the hot beams of sunlight, the edge of its pointed tip glistening in the glory of the afternoon inferno. Two pincers of immeasurable length extended outwards from the core of the beast, clicking together threateningly, their opening and closing sending shockwaves across the crust of the earth. The rest of the body unfurled and dozens of massive plates of black rock lined the body of the klaxosaur like a suit of plate armor.

The Nines engaged the beast with no concept or strategy at all, taking the scorpion-like monster on with only their bloodlust and raw desire for slaughter in mind. They would suffer for this mistake. Sweeping its tail with speed unimaginable for its scale, the sharp tip jabbed with the speed of a lightning bolt, thundering into the earth before the Nines, completely severing the leg of Beta's mech, his screams of pain audible over the intercom. That was background noise to the deluded cockpits of the remainder of the squad, the wails falling on deaf ears as they continued their charge. The tail dislodged itself from the crater it'd blasted into existence and slid to the left in a low sweep. Dust rose up around the tail and grabbed onto it like the air molding around a fighter jet flying at mach speeds. The tail collided with the side of Gamma's mech and launched him with the force of a million cannons, his mech flipping hundreds of times as it was jettisoned across the wasteland, a streak miles long following the path of his careening frame. Alpha, Delta, and Epsilon still paid no heed to the failures of their comrades, absolutely dead set on clashing with the klaxosaur before them. Retracting its tail back to its frame, a massive shadow veiled the earth below the great appendage. The klaxosaur sat still for a bit, its teeming body remaining dormant for a few awkward seconds. This reverie was snapped in the blink of an eye and a gasp of breath as a pincer blasted forwards and caught hold of Delta's mech. The pincer continued to close further and further, the metal of the Franxx squealing under the pressure. Metal sheets snapped off into curved shards and smoke bellowed forth from the cracking engines. Delta screeched in agony as the claws closed completely, snapping the mech in two at the waist. The two parts of the body slipped from the grasp of the klaxosaur and fell to the earth.

Alpha's eyes were lecherously wide as he finally met the klaxosaur, running up its side with his acrobatic maneuvers. Alpha worked his way over to the base of the pincer that was being pulled back to the beast's body. He dug his spear into the insanely thick plates of the klaxosaur and flared his engines. His mech blew forwards, pillars of fire blowing forth from his boosters, slicing through the skin of the klaxosaur with his spear in a feat great ease. Leaving a deep slice behind him that ran all the way around the arm of the monster, Alpha leapt into the air after finishing his attack, turning backwards to admire his handiwork. The left pincer of the klaxosaur was hanging limply from the rest of the body, the creature forced to drag its forlorn limb across the ground in order to move. This was all Alpha would be able to verify as his mech was covered in a thick shadow. He turned his eyes to the sky with a groan of curiosity that quickly devolved into a whimper. The tail of the scorpion-like klaxosaur slammed down into the Franxx and launched it like a baseball struck by a club. Alpha's mech spiralled into the earth below and slammed into the loose sands and dirt, ending up submerged beneath the waist, limbs twisted in awkward angles. During the landing, Alpha's head slammed against the ground with the force of a boulder landing on him, instantly knocking him unconscious. The klaxosaur ignored the destroyed mechs of the Nines and continued to make its way past them towards Cerasus.

/

"Already?" Hachi's voice questioned his intercom, not sure of the words he was receiving. After a few seconds Hachi shook his head but murmured his understanding. It'd only been a week since the Nine's had started defending Plantation 13, and it was already time for them to use their trump card again. How pathetic they were. Hachi grunted in annoyance and made his way out of his hidden room. He was now the method of direct contact with the children while Nana was being repaired. He opened his concealed door into the halls of the boarding house, stepping purposefully through the halls.

/

Hiro felt the sun before he saw it, the warm light glowing beyond his eyelids and making him uncomfortable beneath his sheets. Hiro's eyes slowly opened, his lids sliding back into his head with the speed of a turtle crawling back into his pond. The blinding beams of the sun met his weary orbs as he raised a hand to shield his face. He sat upright in his bed and looked about his room. Something felt off. It was like the room was different from when he'd left it. Like the air had changed or the aura the walls gave off had been tampered with. His shifting in his bed eventually led him to set his eyes on the girl asleep at his bedside. Ichigo's head was submerged amongst the sheets and her ruffled hair shrouded her scarred face, light and almost incomprehensible snores escaping her thin lips. Hiro sighed and pulled his blankets off of himself, moving to get out of bed. As he did this his legs made a sound comparable to a piston sliding into action.

Hiro jumped, startled at the mechanical sound emitted from his limbs. He tried again, to move his lower body, long being used to an absolute lack of reaction when he did so. Much to his disbelief, his whole right leg moved, the same industrial-like sound being created during the motion. Hiro swung both of his legs from the covers of the bed and placed them on the planks of the boarding house, standing upright on them. His eyes were as wide as the moon, and his jaw was dropped in uncertainty. Was he dreaming again? He took a shaky step forwards and fell down to his knees, not used to balancing on his inexperienced feet. He rose back to his feet and made his way over to the door frame, bracing himself against the wall with his hand to maintain his balance. A low whimper from his bed caused him to stop and turn back to Ichigo's waking form. Ichigo slowly raised her head and surveyed the bed before her. Upon not seeing what she expected she jumped to her feet and looked around the room, searching for Hiro. She eventually turned to his standing form by the doorway and froze completely.

"Hi-, Hiro?" she squeezed out from between her tightly clasped lips, her emerald eyes overflowing with uncertainty. Hiro didn't answer for a second, choosing instead to let go of his hold on the wall and walk over to Ichigo instead. He made his way over to her seated form in three slow, clumsy steps, and stopped before her. Ichigo's eyes squeezed together more and more with each step he took and upon his arrival to her position she simply shook her head and set it back on his bed. She was dreaming she'd decided. Hiro took this as a chance to escape and burst out into the corridors of the boarding house. He didn't feel anything in his legs but, they were working. It made no sense at all. The sensations of movement and speed. He rounded a corner and felt the air bending around his sprinting form. The sound of beating pistons echoed out from his legs and squealed every time he planted a foot. He rounded another corner to come face to face with Hachi, to which he stopped his joyride through the halls on his new legs.

"Hiro, you need to come with me now" Hachi's stern voice called out to him.

/

"Code 016, you are to defend Cerasus. The Nines were wiped out and it now falls to you to do your duty and protect Plantation 13" the masked figure spoke to Hiro from the hologram before him. Hiro casted his gaze down to his legs and studied his newly rejuvenated appendage, turning them and testing them against the metal floor below him. "We know you won't fail us, Code 016" their voices synonymously commanded him together.

Hiro flexed his thigh and pressed his hand into his side, "I refuse." His steady answer and serious eyes met the mysterious slits of the masked man's face with total confidence. Hachi's eyes opened wide from his position flanking Hiro. The masked man shifted in his seat, as if he was reexamining the boy before him.

"You would let all your companions die? You would let your home be destroyed?" the monotonous voice tried, vainly. Hiro merely nodded. The masked man scrutinized the child again, and realized his own blunder.

"This is not my home, and you want this place to survive much more than I do, isn't that right?" Hiro affirmed sternly, his voice leaving no room for debate. The masked man stifled a growl and levelled his gaze on the boy.

"What do you want then?" he acquiesced, willing to hear the boy's ultimatum.

"You know exactly what I want, you sick bastard" Hiro spoke calmly, but his eyes shot lasers of aggression into the man before him. The call was silent for a few seconds before the man before him began to answer.

"We refu-" he started only to be cut off by another robed figure.

"Very well, Code 016. If you defend Plantation 13, we will return Code 02 to Cerasus" the authoritative voice agreed to Hiro's demands.

"And don't try anything, you snakes. If you do, you'll never be able to expect any help from me again in defending this shithole" his voice was now angry, his fingers clasped into tight fists.

"We will play no games with your desires boy. Now fulfill your end of the bargain" the voice ended the call as the hologram whirred out of existence. Hiro would help them this time he reasoned, in order to get that which he wanted most. This was a stepping stone. He'd get her back this time.

Hiro's self monologue was cut short when Hachi coughed from behind him to get his attention, "Code 016, there is a problem with your plan unfortunately."

/

Hiro sat in the middle of the lounge room of the boarding house as the rest of the squad filed in slowly. He steadied his breathing as he felt the surprised eyes of his team meeting his standing form.

"Hiro," Ichigo's voice snapped him from the silent trance he was in, "I brought them like you asked." Nodding to her he turned to the rest of the group. He met all their gazes confidently and jumped right in.

"The Nines have been wiped out and a klaxosaur is coming to destroy the plantation" Hiro began his conversement with the most dire news, not wasting any time dawdling. Most of Squad 13's eyes widened at the news of their aggressive protectors being dealt with. Mitsuru's eyes stayed calm and he shook his head.

"The klaxosaur approaching was evident enough with the banging we've been hearing all day, but who would've known the Nines would be so useless" he surmised in disappointment, his tone rational. Hiro rain his eyes over the eyes of his apparent squadmates one by one. Futoshi's eyes were on the ground and his head was pointed downwards. Ikuno's eyelids were pressed together and her arms were crossed as she leaned against the wall, the girl noticeably trying to control her breathing. Zorome's hands were folded behind his head and he sighed loudly, annoyed at the news. Kokoro was shaking, holding her left arm with her right at the elbow as the quaked from fear of the impending doom. Ichigo and Goro simply looked at Hiro, both their eyes retaining no doubt, only waiting for more clarification from the boy who'd just told them they were all about to die. And finally, his eyes met Miku, who was biting her lip in anger, tapping her foot against the floorboards anxiously, "Miku, I need your help to save everyone."

Miku's eyes snapped to Hiro's and her foot ceased its tapping, "Huh?" Her voice was incredulous and her eyes narrowed in doubt. She surveyed the boy from top to bottom before giving an answer, "Besides, isn't there something else you need to explain to everyone?" Hiro uncomfortably shifted on his new legs, the mechanisms within them sliding audibly, giving off a sound loud enough that everyone in the room could hear it.

"I couldn't tell you if I wanted to unfortunately, I woke up and they were like this. It's like there's a machine in me or something, I don't know" his voice was nowhere near as confident as when he had began his talk, his eyes avoiding the pressuring gaze of the redhead in front of him.

"Is that right?" Mitsuru's voice sounded, "They just appeared out of thin air?" Hiro shook his head at the mocking depiction of the events but eventually nodded in affirmation. Mitsuru gauged Hiro's reaction intensely but finally wiped his face with his hand, satisfied with the uncertainty of the boy. "And?" he continued, "Why do you need Miku of all people?"

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" she rose her voice and pointed a temperamental finger towards Mitsuru.

"Well," Hiro finally turned his eyes to Miku and waited for her to meet his gaze before continuing, "Only Argentea has been repaired." Ichigo and Zorome's eyes flashed with understanding before Miku's eventually did.

"You want to pilot with me?" Miku asked skeptically.

"Not want, I need to" Hiro answered her simple question in such a way that translated the gravity of the situation unto her. Miku released a steady exhale and weighed the option in her mind.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Zorome jumped into action, stepping between Miku and Hiro, "Why wouldn't I just pilot with her then?" Hiro studied the boy for a moment, seeing if he was actually serious or not.

"You're not strong enough Zorome, I'm sorry. This is something only I can do." Hiro's words were like a slap to the face of the other stamens in the room and all of them visibly grimaced at the realization of what they already knew. Zorome would not submit so easily though.

"Oh and you are? You can walk all of a sudden and now you think you're some hot shit?" Zorome stepped closer and closer to Hiro, placing his hands on the frail boy's shoulders and practically slobbering the words onto him.

"I'm closer than any of you are for sure" Hiro's temper flared, indignation at the bullying Zorome had always done unto him surfacing in his mind. Zorome's face quivered once in anger, and he tightened his rock hard grasp on Hiro's shoulders.

"Why you!" Zorome wouldn't have a chance to finish his challenge as Goro grabbed the boy from behind, pulling him away from Hiro.

"Hiro, there's no need to put it like that you know" Goro's eyes were soft and his face was atypically cold. Hiro internally cursed his own inability to remain calm and inevitably nodded to the blonde haired boy in apology.

"Still, will Miku be able to handle you Hiro?," Ichigo's finally voiced her concerns.

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" Miku's trigger-happy ire boiled over again.

"It means that I could barely control it for more than ten minutes, and I'm a double digit code. Miku you might not even be able to survive piloting with him" Ichigo's voice spoke words open to interpretation, but her voice, filled with worry and fear, made it evident to Miku that the girl was just looking out for her. Miku's features softened and she threw her gaze to the corner of the room.

"Miku might die? Then she definitely can't go! I won't let you take my partner you scumbag!" Zorome continued his rant from beneath Goro's strong hold of him. Hiro wrenched his eyes shut at the risks he was forcing upon his peers. He knew deep inside he was using them for his own benefit.

"I'll do it" Miku extinguished the fire in Zorome's eyes with the three words she uttered. The hostile air of the living room was doused in a downpour of Miku's agreement to the suicide run with Hiro. Hiro opened his eyes and looked to Miku, who eventually returned her eyes to meet his, her irises slightly shaking but her face courageous.

/

Hiro was seated in the clean and freshly repaired cockpit of Argentea. The walls sparkled and reflected the glow of the single orange overhead light perfectly. The floor was polished enough that it could be used to dine on and the seats were so fresh Hiro wouldn't have minded sleeping there. His appreciation of the cockpit was cut short when Miku stepped wearily into the mech, her skin-tight red and white pistil suit grabbing onto her form. Her eyes flicked around the cockpit nervously, memories of her last disaster of an operation still perfectly clear in her mind. The screams she'd released in the isolated tunnels of the mining facility were still echoing off the walls of her insides. Miku carefully stepped over to the seat before Hiro and looked to him, not knowing what she was expecting.

"Miku" Hiro's sudden voice surprised the girl, causing her to flinch and recoil, "Thank you." Miku's eyes softened at the genuine words and she slid into her seat with a small smile on her face.

"I'm not doing this for you, Hiro. Keep that in mind" her words were aggressive but the frightened way she spoke them made Hiro only shake his head and lean back into his seat to prepare for the mission.

"Just remember what Ichigo told you Miku, once I pass out it's all on you. Just try to breath and remain in control. No matter what, don't lose control" Hiro spoke seriously, no more gentleness in his tone when tackling the serious matters upcoming. Miku acknowledged the instructions he'd given her and steeled herself for the upcoming mission. This time she wouldn't fail so pitifully. The lights of the Franxx whirred on and a canvas of white surrounded the two children. Hiro fell back softly into his seat and Miku howled in pain. This time was for real. The docking bay doors opened slowly, letting in the furious rays of the sun. This time there wasn't any room for mistakes.

/

A single pink paw slammed into the earth, kicking up shards of the craggy rocks that had been displaced by its arrival. Many meter long orange, magma-infused claws darted out from the pink foot, their blades so sharp the dust in the air visibly flowed around the edge when blown against it by the wind. Following the long pink limb, white plates of thick metal lined the torso and hind legs. Steam flowed freely from the boosters lining the flank and hind heels of the beast, overshadowed by a long tail-like appendage jutting outwards from the rear of the machine. The long, pink crown that had once sat atop the head of Argentea, had now folded down onto the girthy neck of the mech, mimicking the appearance of a glorious mane. Covered in pink and white decals, Argentea drew itself to its full height in the fury of the summer sun, its proud wolf-like body ready to prowl on its single target. Eyes beady red with energy and the frame of the mech slightly shaking from the pressure it put on its pilot, Argentea dashed across the battle-scarred earth towards the ever nearing klaxosaur behemoth in the distance.

(AN - funfunfunfufnfnfunfufunu, having lots of fun, though i feel like im definitely getting more and more lazy lmao, we got a banger incoming boys, brace for impact/ and if anyone's curious i wrote that poem a long time ago and thought it'd be a nice little tool to throw in here)


	11. Chapter 11

Maiden enraptured with a demon, a spirit possesses your flawless countenance. My world alights when you step in front of my eyes. Beauty and elegance fail as words in their duty to be conduits for my thoughts of you. The weak letters would woefully let me clearly witness your place in my mind. Mere language cannot express your aura and electricity. The air tingles beneath your touch and takes my tepid tongue by thunderous storm. Affectionate nectar bleeds from your lips with each breath, soft as the clouds that let the bands of sunshine willingly pass through their thin and aether like area, and soak up the atmosphere. With every inhalation my brain is intoxicated by the stars your scent creates in the distant sky. You breathe cool nocturnal air into my maelstrom of a mind.

/

Miku scowled as she suppressed a growl that welled up from inside of her. Argentea dashed across the wasteland expanse like a lightning bolt released from Zeus' hand, searching out its target with the powerful magnitude of a god's fury. Dust shot up in geysers around every paw print that was slammed into the cragged earth. The scorpion klaxosaur had also been approaching the Franxx at a steady pace, its arm still dangling loosely from its torso. With a grunt of exertion, Miku willed Argentea airborne, the mech leaping into a takedown of sorts, targeting the klaxosaur's face. The klaxosaur immediately recognized the vulnerable position the mech had placed itself in and lashed out with its titanic tail, striking a straight blow at the red and white wolf sailing towards it. The Franxx twirled mid-air and managed to narrowly evade the jab, ending up atop the pointy tip of the tail.

Not hesitating a second, completely relying on her enhanced primal instinct to survive, Miku willed the mech to run along the surface of the tail. The klaxosaur noticed the agile antics of its oppressor and abruptly began to bring its tail to the earth, attempting to slam the mech beneath the weight of the obsidian appendage. Seeing the world around her begin to shift downwards, Miku dug the long, magma-infused claws of Argentea through the hard shell of the klaxosaur, running around the tail so that she stayed on top of it. The tail collided with the earth like a meteor, punching a crater meters deep into the sandstone that made up the crust of the badlands their fight took place in. The shockwave emitted from the blast and the abrupt landing of the platform the Franxx was standing on made it crumple up slightly, the red and white plates lining the exterior now dented and bent.

Drool slipped from Miku's lips and blood ran freely across her face from a cut on the top her head, the landing having shaken her up. The sanguine essence leaked into her eye and dyed it a vermillion shade of rage. She gritted her teeth as the constant buzzing in the back of her mind continued to perpetually increase in volume. The periphery of her sight was blurring and the actions she took were no longer calculated, everything she did was out of impulse. Thus, when Argentea rose back to its full height and launched across the back of the klaxosaur off its hind legs, Miku merely roared in blind aggression. The mech landed at the beginning of the klaxosaurs exposed face-like region and dug its claws into the softer carapace. The long talons slipped into the beast's shell like a katana being used to dice cucumbers, only a small crunching sound being emitted when the barbs punched through the chassis of the monster. Catapulting itself into a rampage, Argentea went berserk on the cerulean orbs that appeared to be the eyes of the klaxosaur. Miku eviscerated the fragile spheres, launching hundreds of swats and strikes in the blink of an eye. The only indication that the Franxx was actually attacking was the appearance of thousands of scars across the klaxosaur and the sunlight bouncing off the metal plates as it blinked through the air.

The klaxosaur, done with the massacre that Miku had dealt unto its face, sweeped its tail low across its head. The tail bludgeoned into the side of Argentea and launched it off of the back of the klaxosaur, far into the air. The creature followed up its move by swinging its stump that still held the remnants of an arm. The momentum caused the severed limb to separate and become a projectile. The skyscraper sized pincer blasted through the air like a missile and wallopped into the Franxx. The collision with the organic rocket sent the metal frame careening away into the desert, only to come to a halt after rolling hundreds of meters. Sparks bounced about the surface of the mech's plates spontaneously and steam bellowed from the boosters that lined its flanks. The wolf slowly raised its head towards the klaxosaur a final time, only to see the gargantuan silhouette of a black pincer against the sun. The pincer snatched the mech from the dirt, retrieving it from the cavity it'd created with its destructive impact. The pressure of the claw closing around the torso of the Franxx caused Miku to scream in agony. The tension increased more and more as the klaxosaur retracted its arm back towards its body, Argentea in hold. Miku shook with rage as the klaxosaur held the mech before its tail like a boar being tied up for a noble huntsman to skewer with ease. She shrieked like a demon, not willing to die in such a pathetic way. The claws of the wolf flourished outwards, slicing through the rock-hard pincer's material like a bullet passing through skin. The pincer split into a quadruplet of segments and fell to the earth. Argentea lunged forwards, launching itself off one of the heavy fragments of the claw. The lengthy claws dug deep into the final orb shining atop the klaxosaurs head, cracking it like a hammer striking a fake diamond. The sphere shined like a sapphire atom being spliced and then exploded into an azure inferno. The klaxosaur burst from every nook and cranny with fountains of blue ichor, the liquid wildly pouring out from gaps between the thick, black plates that covered its body. The earth was painted blue and the endless lake of blue innards was sizzled beneath the sun, bubbling and boiling like a bears porridge.

/

Cherry blossoms danced in the gentle breeze like their petals were ice skaters, spinning and leaping across the currents undulating in the halcyon summer air with unparalleled elegance. Shafts of yellow fell in beams through the thin spaces between the branches and twigs adorning the masterpieces of nature, the gentle shafts painting the mundane earth in theatrical splatters of sunlight. Creatures skittered about the long stalks of grass and the vivid palette of assorted flowers, confidently striding across the ground with no fear of demise. The untainted glade bowed beneath the gentle strokes of the wind like the hair of a kitten being petted again and again by a lonesome girl. Some free blossoms ended their voyage across the sky in the lake, their backs arching as they came into contact with the lukewarm surface of the water, continuing to lazily doze about on the gentle ripples their landing created in the otherwise tranquil pool. Fish sprung forth freely from the tepid lake, flaunting their glistening scales almost in indignation at the encroaching beauty of the cherry blossoms.

Amongst the mellow tide of blush colored nature, long locks of pink hair swung back and forth as they made their way down the main path of the forest. Feet carefully trudged forwards, each step colliding with the ground as delicately as a kiss goodnight. Pale skin absorbed the rays of sunshine and reflected them with tenfold the brilliance, blinding the aqueous pair of eyes that were locked onto its advancing gleam. Zero Two took step after wary step as she slowly limped down the beaten forest path. The descending cherry petals blew about her in a magnificent arch, comparable in elegance to a imperial coronation. Hiro's breath had long been bated, but his lungs were frozen into dormancy upon seeing Zero Two approaching him, gorgeous hair falling about a single grafted horn and a stump that that sprouted from her forehead. His eyes had long been wide and his jaw had forever been dropped. The features of the awe-stricken boy greatly contrasted the serene, sylvan scene before him.

He took a single step forwards and upon seeing her collapse to her knees on the warm dirt before him he broke into a sprint. Hiro fell to his knees beside her, placing his arms on her shoulders and clasping her so tightly that his knuckles whitened from the pressure. He slid a hand from her right shoulder to her face, carefully brushing aside the bangs that veiled her face from his sight only to see her own lids clasped together into a pair of thin lines.

"Zero Two. Zero Two, please. Open your eyes!" Hiro whimpered into her collar as he embraced her, the revelation that she had fallen unconscious only putting him further into shock. Her skin was breathtakingly warm, just taking her in his arms completely winded Hiro. It was like her touch was a dragon's breath licking at his form, melting his muscles as he went limp against Zero Two's comatose body. He inhaled and her scent shot through his system, energizing his senses like the stimulants of a master alchemist. He pulled himself against her and wrapped his arms around her form in a devoted embrace, his cheek brushing past hers as he slid her head into the crook of his neck. He exhaled and his body slackened further, like his limbs were tapestries falling across the angles and crevices of her physique. The feeling of the rough earth beneath his bare legs was drowned out by the thumping of his heart. Her presence empowered him beyond measure. He held the entire universe in his arms, all things worth anything were contained in the reach of his hands. His eyes slid slowly shut as a smile grew on his face. He'd gotten her back, and he'd make sure he'd never let go again.

/

"Darling?" Zero Two's unsure voice slipped from her lips as she awoke, taking immediate note of Hiro's form nestled against her own. Her mouth quivered as she questioned the reality of her situation, not believing the dreamlike reunion she was having with her love. She tried to upright herself in the bed to get a better look at the boy folded against her, but his arms gently prodded her to stay by his side, his body subconsciously yearning for her presence. Zero Two, still not fully comprehending her situation, settled back into Hiro's limp arms, her own hands folded together over her chest as she faced him on her side. She inhaled and exhaled many times before finally turning her head to look upwards at his own, her forehead brushing against his chest as she did so.

Hiro's lopsided face was loosely set into an unconscious grin, his perfect rows of white teeth visible through the gap in his thin lips. His eyelids were softly pressed together and his brow sat loosely above, floating comfortably high on his face. His long, black hair framed his countenance and was fanned out on the pillow his head was laid upon. As Zero Two had made each of these observations, she noticed that Hiro's hold on her was tightening, forcing her to arch herself as his arms pressed deeper into the valley of her back. The bare skin of Hiro's smooth legs against her own made her mind tingle and her toes wriggle. The moonlight falling through the window of Hiro's room only served to douse him in shades of even further enrapturement in Zero Two's opinion, his attractive features captivating her still drowsy mind. The sheets of the bed became drastically more warm as she began to realize her circumstances.

Her darling was right there. The kingdom of his grasp was the land she was sovereign to, his touch making her feel like a queen in the nocturnal bedroom realm they sat upon in conquest. She'd spent her whole life trying to find her way back to her darling, only to lose him again. Well now she'd finally found her way home to the native amity of his warmth. She'd found her way back to her king. His fingers found their way into the gap in the back of her nightgown and she flinched a the bare pads of his digits pressed into her spine. With a small gasp, she smiled at the childlike way Hiro clung to her, face completely and innocently morphed in relaxation. Zero Two had felt pain worse than she had once deemed imaginable and was only able to survive due to the image of her darling that she kept in her mind. The memory of his voice and the way he blushed at her advances. The way he shrugged off her antics and tried to hide his feelings from her in embarrassment. The hope that she'd be able to see him smile again with her own two eyes. The hope that she'd retain this feeling that was now flowing through her body, seeping into every corner of her being. This feeling that could be described as that of dedication and love and perseverance. The feeling that could only be described as being human. The feeling Hiro gave her.

Zero Two blushed madly and shook her head, her rustling making Hiro groan in his sleep and loosen his hold on her for a brief second. Zero Two seized this opportunity without thinking and jumped to her feet, the bare bottoms of her feet colliding with the cold wooden planks of the floor. She shivered as the frigid midnight air struck her, making her realize just how pleasant her darling's touch was. She tiptoed over to the window sill, not wanting to disturb Hiro any further from his slumber. Slinging a leg up over the edge of the sill, Zero Two climbed up into the opened frame and sat in the aperture. The ashen moonlight silhouetted her form, casting a long shadow into the room and onto the petals that had drifted through the window to find rest in the dorm. Zero Two sat like this for some while, back arched against the window sill, right leg dangling freely outside, relishing in the reality that she was with the one she loved. Her reverie was broken when her inhuman hearing detected a two footsteps in the room behind her. Her head snapped to the sound almost mechanically, her eyes gleaming like a feline predator stalking its prey. Hiro stood there, looking directly at her, tears rolling down the planes of his cheeks.

"Zero Two" his choked words escaped his shaking lips, his eyes flickering in the moonlight as he took her in. He raised a sleeve to wipe his face of his tears and took a step towards her. Zero Two's eyes mimicked the size of moon far above her in the night sky as she realized with a start that he was walking, that he was on his own two feet. She slid from the window sill to her feet, hesitantly leaning towards his direction.

"Hiro, your legs" her voice probed him, the confusion that dazed her mind translating into the syllables she spoke. Hiro seemed to not even comprehend the questioning words she said aloud to him, choosing instead to continue his dogged progression towards her, tears still flowing freely across his face.

"That doesn't matter right now," his mouth curved into a small smile, his hair swaying from side to side as he shook his head, "I finally got you back." Zero Two's hand fiddled with the frills of her nightgown, pawing the thin fabric between her pointer finger and thumb as her mouth slightly jarred at the emotional boy in front of her. Her skin was covered in small bruises and scars, singe marks and burns littered across her body. A single, freshly maintained horn jutted forth from her forehead from beneath her long, pink bangs, a shaved stump parallel to it. Hiro drew ever closer, his strides confident, as if he'd never lost the ability to walk in the first place. He was only inches away from her as he came to stop, the lunar light glimmering as it passed through the liquid product of his sobs. The patter of his teardrops striking the oak beneath them echoed like war drums, their rhythmic collisions with the floor almost as fast as her rapidly beating heart. He was right. She'd finally found her way back to him.

"Mm, yeah" she tried to stifle a snivel as her composure finally began to crumple, her shoulders angling inwards as she brought her hands together at her waist. She wriggled her lips and hastily blinked as her timid visage inevitably caved in. "I missed you Hiro, I missed you so bad that it hurt me" the floodgates of her eyelids simultaneously snapped apart, rivers of tears flowing forth, no longer incapacitated by the meager resistance of her futile and half hearted attempts to suppress the passion welling up in her heart. She thrusted herself forwards into his arms, burying her face in the expanse of his chest, shooting her hands around him and desperately clinging onto him as if she were a girl free falling to the earth, searching for a final solace in her lover's touch. Her tears blotted the dark fabric of his uniform, the warmth of every droplet seeped through Hiro's epidermis like anchors falling through shallow waters, their emotionally thermal power directly flooding his core. Hiro wrapped his hold about her, his hands gliding across her back as they slid beneath the long locks of pink that settled across his forearms as he held her. He felt his body squeam but his authoritative heart immediately whipped his legs back to stability, refusing to fail at supporting his loved one as she wailed waterfalls into his weary form, safe beneath the shade of his wings that he draped her in. She spoke no more words to him, she didn't need to. Everything she felt and everything he felt was plainly obvious to the couple. The only communication needed was the heartwarming contact of their skin. The moonlight struck the couple is such a way that they were both glowing, both of their pale complexions shimmering in the alabaster shafts of energy that blew through the open window.

"Welcome home Zero Two" he whispered into the nape of her neck. "I love you."

"So do I, darling," she managed a smile and pulled away from him, cheeks red and eyes shaking, turquoise irises locked onto his face. "I love you too."

(AN - ah, o yah boys, we made it and i love writing about it/ o t p, o t p, o t p)


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